Dreaming
by joeyboydaplaya
Summary: Max West is the genius younger brother of Wally West. Though he longs to fight side by side as a hero, he does not possess the super speed that his brother and uncle do, leaving him on the sideline. But that isn't the only way he can help. Max joins the Young Justice team in a support role, will he find a way to stand by his brother and his friends?
1. Chapter 1

**Alright y'all. So this is my attempt at an OC fanfic, or any fanfic at all. So if you could take it easy on me and excuse the grammatical errors, I'd appreciate it. **

**Now, hopefully the summary did its job and gave you a basic idea of what to expect from this story. There's a couple of points I wanted to touch on, but those are at the bottom of the page. I don't wanna leave a huge authors note first thing. Seems like a bad impression to me. **

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. It just so happens, I am not one of them. **

Key:

"Regular speaking"

"_Thinking" -_ Will also double as telepathic convos

"**Comms or automated speech" **

In a room, a young teenager, he couldn't be more than 13 wildly scribbled in his notebook. A flare of ingenious thought had hit him and the young man wouldn't let it escape him.

This was Maxwell West, younger brother of Wally West, or as some may know, Kid Flash.

Max, unfortunately, did not possess the speed that his brother or uncle did. He did, however, possess near unrivaled intellect. Wally was a smart kid, _super _smart, so smart he could be considered a genius. But if he was a genius, then Max was a super-genius.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of his own accomplishments were overshadowed by his brothers. Not that he could blame anyone for being proud of Wally. What he did with their uncle was incredibly selfless, as well as dangerous. He was saving lives out there and making the world a better place. Both praiseworthy and worry inducing to both his parents and even to him.

So he didn't blame his parents or family if they had something more than a blue ribbon at a science fair to worry about. Something like the safety of his brother.

In all honesty, Wally was his hero. Not his uncle Barry, the real Flash, but his older brother. He longed to be like him, longed to stand next to him. Powers or not.

So, if he couldn't help his big brother on the field, then he would help him from behind the scenes and build him all sorts of cool tech. Everything from suits, to weapons, anything that may have been useful.

That's why he was scratching down his ideas so quickly. He'd had a dream of a way to boost Wally's speed, something he thought he could replicate in real life. A device that would absorb some the kinetic energy he gave off while running and store it for use at a later date. You could use it for short bursts of massive speed increase, or extended bursts of mild increase. Essentially it was like a can of nitrous, but for a speedster.

Theoretically, it would work. He would just have to come up with a design powerful enough to hold the energy, but also small enough to not be a hassle.

**Knock! Knock! Knock!**

Before he could even start a design his bedroom door was knocked on rapidly. "Gimme a second!"

"Maxwell West, if you're not in the kitchen in 30 seconds, you'll regret it!" It was his mother… Guess that's it for the blueprints.

Max placed his pencil down and got dressed in record time, surprising even himself. Time for a good old fashioned family breakfast.

By the time Max had made it to the kitchen table, there were only scraps of food left. Wally's hyperactive metabolism left the young speedster no choice but to eat everything in sight.

So, instead of the warm pancakes and sausage his mother made, Max happily settled for a cool bowl of cereal.

"Good morning son! Big day?" A man with brown hair asked, his father. Max took more after his Dad than Wally did. While he still had the green eyes of his mom, his hair was brown just like his dads.

"As a matter of fact, yes! Today's the day of my final test. If I ace this one, I'll be finished with high school before I even start it!"

His father nodded, "I see. A waste if you ask me, high school is supposed to be the best four years of your life!" He joked.

"Dads right Max, you're missing out man. Think of all girls you won't get meet! Students, upperclassmen, _teachers_." He nudge the 13 year old before continuing, "I bet they'd all love you, with that big brain and all."

Max smiled and blushed as he took a scoop of his cereal, "Ya think so? Well it isn't that big of a deal, I'm sure I'll meet the right someone someday… Besides there's something else pretty important going on. You're joining the justice league today aren't you Wally?"

The ginger haired West's hand clapped on his siblings shoulder, "Right you are little brother! Today I join the big leagues and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it! Today's the day I graduate from Flash's sidekick, to badass hero extraordinaire! And if there's anything the ladies love, it's a superhero!"

"Hey, you watch your language!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

"Also, Wally, it's the Fourth of July. Make sure you're back before dinner, we've got barbecue!" His mom stated. The young superhero nodded.

"Sure Mom, wouldn't miss bbq for the world!"

The West family enjoyed a small breakfast together, having idle conversations, sharing small jokes. Soon enough, they finished their breakfast and both brothers were getting ready to leave for the day.

Before Wally could walk out of the house, Max stopped. "Wally wait, I've got something for you!" Shuffling through a closet by the front door, the younger brother pulled out a small black backpack with an extra clip, connecting to both straps across the chest for security.

Taking the pack, Wally lightly inspected it. "Uh, thanks Max… But I've already got a bag." He said unsurely.

Max shook his head, "It's not just a bag! Put it on and click the extra strap!"

Deciding to humor the boy, Wally did as asked and strapped the bag to his back. Now that he looked closer, there was a small flash pin on the left shoulder strap. As he ran his finger over it, the backpack transformed.

Wally gasped as a yellow and red suit seemingly ate his form, and fit to his person. Looking down at his body, he recognized it as his hero suit, "Woah, Max! This is awesome!"

"Yea, I know! It's not as discreet as Barry's flash ring, but it's a great alternative for when your on the move. Also, tap the lighting bolt on the right side of your head."

Wally did so, the lighting bolts transformed and spread across his face mask, making a thin plate of armor. The bolt on his chest replicated the action, as did his boots and gloves. When the suit finished clicking into place Wally was left in thin metal shin guards, arm guards, as well as a chest guard.

**(A/N if you've seen the injustice 2 trailer, imagine the way their armor clicks into place. Almost like a transformer, lol, always thought that shit was cool.)**

Wally looked on in amazement and pawed at the armor that formed. While the guards wouldn't take a punch from Superman, they could certainly take a fair amount of damage he otherwise couldn't.

"Cool isn't? I call it flash armor, for obvious reasons, but also because you can deploy it quickly. I've been trying to make a full suit, but I haven't been able to find metal quite suitable or flexible enough for such high speed movements." Max began to go into a long explanation of thoughts and theories, but Wally interrupted him before he could really get into it. The kid would go in forever if he didn't.

"No! This is just fine, oh man, Rob is ganna be sooo~ jealous! I've gotta go though, Barry's waiting on me! Later bro!" With that his speedster brother zoomed out the door, leaving a small gust of wind in his wake.

"_Huh, well I guess it's about time a take off too. One more test I'll be done with all of high school. Maybe I'll take a break for awhile, once I'm done."_

With a smile, Max walked out the door and to the Uber he called. He'd run there, but unfortunately not everyone had super speed.

Max had just finished his exam, it had to be one of the easiest he'd ever taken! He was 100 percent positive that he aced it and the pride he felt at having breezed through the test was enormous.

The teen couldn't wait to tell his mom when she came to pick him up. Surely the woman would be proud, after all what were the chances she'd end up with a super genius as a son? Actually, what were the chances she'd have a superhero for a son? Even crazier, what were the chances she'd have a super genius _and _a superhero for children?

Not very favorable odds… But he supposed his parents just lucked out.

**Honk! Honk!**

Oh, speak of the devil! Max ran over to the family car and hopped in the front seat, "Hey, Mom! That test was _super _easy, absolutely positive I passed it!"

The auburn haired woman smiled lightly, "That's good Maxie, but have you heard from Wally at all? It's starting to get late and I haven't heard a word from him, or Barry all day…" She spoke worriedly.

Max frowned at her dismissal, but understood she was just worried for Wally. "Uhm, no. I haven't, but I'm sure he's fine, he's probably just busy doing hero stuff! Barry wouldn't let anything happen to him, plus he's got the cool new suit I gave him!" He reassured his mother, and for the moment it seemed to work.

"I see… Well, that sounds reasonable. Let's head home, I'm sure Dad's about ready to fire up the grill."

"Sure!" Oh well, if his mother was so worried about Wally, perhaps they could celebrate when his test score officially came in? That way, even his brother would be there!

Yeah, that seemed like a good plan.

It was now well into the night, the moon hung high and it's light shone dimly through Max's blinds as he typed out code and formulas into his computer program. It was the basis, for an AI he was working on.

Artificial Intelligence Version Alpha, or AIVA **(read A-vah) **for short.

Max rubbed his eyes and snuck a look at his clock, 12:56 AM it read. Sighing, the young man stood up and quietly left his room. Programming was tedious work and it left him both thirsty and hungry.

Max entered the kitchen and flipped the oven light on, settling for the dim lighting rather than full blown spotlights.

As he passed the table, he took a look at the cellophane wrapped plate. It had brisket, rice, and beans. Max's mouth watered as he picked the plate up, but held himself back as he read the note attached.

_**For Wally, hands off Maxie! Sprinkle with water and heat for 2 minutes! USE THE PLATE SHIELD**_

Max chuckled at the last bit, Wally never used the plate shield and ended up making a complete mess of the microwave.

Setting down the plate, Max let a brief feeling of worry wash through him. Wally still hadn't returned, it wasn't unusual for him to come home late, but it was unusual for him to miss a bbq feast. Hopefully he wasn't in too much trouble, and if he was then the league would be there to help.

Max pushed those thoughts out of his head and opened up a bottle of water, taking large gulps.

"Hey, bro! Late night?"

"PFFT!" Max choked and hacked on his water in fright, "Jesus! C'mon Wally, don't do that!"

His older brother laughed out loud, and pat his brothers shoulder, "Sorry, I'm a bit excited though! You wouldn't _believe_ the day I've had! Oh, is this mine?" Wally picked up the plate of food and before Max could respond, began to chow down on it.

"Gross… Don't you wanna heat it up?"

"Nwop, ish fine like dish!" He spoke with his mouth full. As the two stay in the kitchen, Wally told Max of the days events.

The fact that the hall of Justice wasn't the real Justice League, which Max already knew. Seriously, did they not think that they had a signal like every other satellite? Maybe it was harder to get a hold of than a regular satellite, but that didn't mean it was completely off the radar and someone with Max's abilities could not only find it, but hack it given enough time and motivation.

Needless to say, he'd received a visit that day from the dark knight himself… Apparently, the cape didn't appreciate it when someone hacked into systems he implemented.

Max classified it as one of the top 5 scariest experiences he'd ever had. The kid had opened his closet to change clothes and there was a huge man, dressed as a bat, just standing there. What a creep… He was traumatized.

But that was beside the point.

Wally then told him about how their uncle didn't trust him and the other sidekicks to go out and fight, which he couldn't help but side with Barry on it. Wally may be ready for someone like Captain Cold, but he was by no means ready for a league power house.

He was then told about how Wally, Robin, and Aqualad decided to raid Cadmus for a sense of 'poetic justice'.

Max was taken by surprise though, when Wally told him of the Superboy. A clone of Superman huh? Very interesting… Thoughts hurdled through his head, theorizing how that may have been possible. What machines, formulas, or even code, they used.

A homunculus? No… That would imply he was human, or artificial human at least. It was made perfectly clear that Superboy was kryptonian, if the tales of his strength and toughness were to be believed.

He was promptly brought back to reality as he was told about how his brother and the other sidekicks made a notion to just start their own team.

Max blinked owlishly at his empty headed brother. He was a smart guy, _very _smart, but also dumb. The world's dumbest smart guy perhaps?

"Are you sure that's really a good idea, Wally? I mean, they're just looking out for you aren't they?" Max reasoned. Wally and the others didn't have the resources to be solo acts. Not yet at least.

His speedster brother scratched his head lightly, "Well, it's more of a bluff really… But what was I supposed to do? Just sit there and let them bench me like that? I've been doing this for years now, shouldn't that count for something! I don't know, I mean- I meant it, but I didn't..?" He spoke that last part slightly confused.

Wally had actually been pretty hurt that his uncle, the man he looked up to, had lied and thought him so unworthy. It made the ginger haired boy feel doubt.

"I could probably do it without him right? You could make the cool gadgets and i could go fight the baddies! How's that sound?!" He pitched to his younger genius brother.

"Not very well thought out. I may have sold a few ideas Wally, but I'm not made of money. Inventions are expensive, you know?"

Wally sweat dropped at the response, he couldn't help but lace a figure of their mother over him. The teen smiled at himself before he stood up from the table. "Yea, I guess you're right. Like always…" He whispered that last part to himself, "I'll sort it out in the morning, night bro!" In a small burst of speed Wally blasted off to his room.

"Yea, night." Max spoke haphazardly. He chugged down the rest of his water then tossed the bottle before his expression lit up like a light. "Oh! I forgot to tell him about my test, dang it!"

Max sighed and walked out of the kitchen, _"Well, it's whatever. I guess, It's not really all that important anyway."_

With those thoughts Max walked up to his room, ready to hit the hay. He could finish the coding for AIVA tomorrow, he mused. Right now, he needed some good old sleep.

Max eased his door open, but suddenly in froze in fright. A large, dark figure lurked in the corner of his room.

Like a creep… Before its rough voice spoke, "I've got an offer for you."

It had been three whole days since the sidekicks and Wally had banded together and formed their own group. Three whole 24 hour days, filled mostly with anxiety. That was until he'd gotten a call from Barry.

Apparently they were to meet up with the other heroes at the old JL headquarters, also known as, Mount Justice. Now the sidekicks- no, the heroes, could only feel pride.

They stood in a line; Wally, Robin, Superboy, and Aqualad. Feelings of nervousness ran through them, well most of them, Superboy didn't seem to care too much.

"Since you four are so determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on league terms." The Batman spoke, almost as if he was praising and berating them at the same time.

He then gestured to his side where a large red robot with a blue cape stood, and next to him a blonde woman in a black leotard and blue jacket over it.

"Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary is in charge of training, and I will deploy you on missions." He said

"_Real _missions?" Robin, the boy wonder, spoke.

"Yes, but covert."

It was then the Flash thought he'd add his own thoughts, "The league will still handle the obvious stuff, there's a reason we wear these targets on our chest!" He pointed to the lightning blot on the center of his chest.

"But Cadmus proves the villains are getting smarter, and Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." This time Aquaman, King of Atlantis spoke.

"The five of you will be that team."

Robin smirked, as did Wally, "Ah, cool~" the two friends fist bumped before a small expression of realization dawned on the stop light colored hero, "Wait, five?"

Hearing footsteps the four turned around and noticed two individuals walking towards them. The first was easily recognizable, the ever famous Martian Manhunter, in all his green glory.

But to his side, someone not so familiar. A green-skinned girl with amber eyes and shoulder-length red hair and freckles to go on her cheeks. Her posture was noticeably nervous, but that was understandable when you were meeting new people, much less a new species.

"Uh, hi!" She waved nervously.

Wally smirked and peeked over to Robin, "I'm liking this gig more every minute!" He whispered before stepping forward and introducing himself.

"Welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash! That's Robin and Aqualad, but it's cool if you forget their names."

"I'm honored to be included." She said, feeling a bit more comfortable with very Wally's open personality.

As the trio walked over, Superboy opted to stay behind. A genetically grown clone of destruction he may be, but a social butterfly he was not.

"Hey, Superboy! Come meet Miss. M!" The boy wonder called out. The Kryptonian clone looked up and made his way over. His attire was noticeably different from the first night he'd seen the moon. Gone was the white solar suit he'd worn for the duration of his shirt life, in its place a black shirt with a red S shield and blue jeans.

A stylish choice, at least, Miss. Martian thought so as she changed her top, morphing it to match his. "I like your t-shirt…" She smiled.

Superboy looked surprised for just a moment before he smiled too.

"Woah! This place is HUGE!"

Wally squinted his eyes as he heard that voice. It sounded oddly familiar, like eerily so.

As he turned around his eyes widened and his mouth fell in shock, "MAX?! What the heck are you doing here?!"

His shouting brought the others attention, most of them knew him as Wally's genius kid brother, but the two new ones weren't so enlightened.

"Who's that?" Miss. Martian asked. She'd already met everyone here, but the teen was new to her. Perhaps another member of the team she guessed.

"Oh, that's Kid's little brother." Robin answered casually.

"Oh! A sibling, I have tons back on Mars!"

That revelation however did not answer the question of what the boy genius was doing here. And now that he had time to think about it, Robin couldn't help but grow even more curious too.

"Team, this is Maxwell West." Batman spoke and

Max offered a small wave of greeting, "Hey everyone!"

"We know who he is, but why is he _here_?"

The dark knight cleared his throat as he continued, "He will be tech support."

**Donnie done. **

**Ok readers, here are those points I was talking about above. If the story look go to you, and you're satisfied with how it's going so far then you may disregard it. If you've got some lingering questions or concerns though, please refer to these. If you're concern or question wasn't touched on, feel free to pm me or leave a review. I'll do what I can to address and get back to it. **

**Point 1: This story will follow a genius level intellect character, mostly in a support role (for now at least). I don't really want to spoil anything for future chapters but I'll warn you that some instances may get pretty 'technical' as far as terms go. I'll try to be as accurate as I can and do my own research but I am far from being genius myself. Therefore, there are probably ganna be some bits that sound like absolutely doo doo or even a bit redundant to those who actually know or have a basic understanding of whatever the topic may be. **

**Point 2: As far as pairings go, I'm not too set on one at the moment. Maybe I won't even have one. There's a couple of plot points I wanna hit that of course involve feelings of romance or attraction, but they are mostly there to set up character development or trigger bigger things in the plot. If a pairing does happen, I'd like it to happen as naturally as possible. As in I want a solid relationship developed first, not one those they meet instantly fuck and get married. **

**Point 3: I'm rating this as M for creative freedom. Now that doesn't mean that there is ganna be gore, sex, or whatever else an M rating may entail to you. Neither does my previous statement mean it won't appear down the line. As I said, creative freedom. I wanna write what I want without being flag for something someone found 'offensive', so consider this a fair warning. There will be suggestive themes and if I'm feeling courageous one day while I'm typing, maybe I'll write a steamy scene or two. Who knows. **

**Point 4: I do have a basic outline for how I want this story to go, but I don't have a specific time table laid out. That said, updates will hopefully be timely and well space considering chapter shouldn't be any longer than 6-7k words (excluding A.N) or shorter than 4K. However, do expect sporadic updates. **

**Right now I'm really feeling motivated to write these because I've just reached the closing episodes of season one, but that muse is always fickle. Or maybe I've got a short attention span? Idk, but I just don't want y'all to expect something and then not have it delivered. I know it sucks. **

**That's about it for now, tell me how you felt about it. If you want to, I mean. If you've got suggestions or advice, don't be afraid to let me know. Constructive criticism is always welcome and I'm more than willing to hear out suggestions and preferences should they come with reasonable points. Those could be on pairings, character relations, plot points. **

**As I said earlier, I've got an outline but it's made with revision in mind so don't be scared to let me know what you think may be interesting. It's fun to hear what other people may think up.**

**Peace out boys (and girls if you're reading)!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, here's chapter number 2! Please enjoy reading, and if you didn't feel free to give me a reason why. I'm writing this for me, but I'd also like it to be able to entertain others. I wouldn't have published it on ff, if I didn't. **

**Disclaimer: Dc owns all of their respective characters, with the exception of Max. **

Key:

"Speaking"

"_Thought or telepathic convos"_

"**Automated speech or comms"**

Max sat in his new lab, currently uploading AIVA to the main system. He'd been able to complete it last night and wanted to give it a whirl on the caves system. Luckily enough, the servers and equipment at the cave were extremely high level, and the lab he'd been provided was stocked with state of the art technology.

It was a child genius' wet dream.

Well not totally, Power Girl was any growing boys (genius or not) wet dream, but this was a close second for him.

While Max let AIVA download, he figured he'd go grab something to eat. Not only did this cave come with a furnished lab, but also a fully stocked fridge! Best gig in the world, as far as he was concerned. And, as a plus, he got to work with his big brother.

So leaving from his lab, Max silently walked down the hallway.

Mount Justice was truly an amazing fortress. And the more he thought about it, the more the teen grew intrigued.

He was brought out of his musing when the smell of fresh cookies wafted over his senses. The young teen perked up, cookies were his favorite dessert!

He didn't even have cake on his birthday, instead insisting on a batch of birthday cookies.

"Oh wow!" Max hurriedly walked through a large living area. It was spacious and fully furnished with modern looking furniture and decor. The young man was surprised by the attention that, what could have only been, The Batman put into making the base both accommodating yet professional.

Max crouched in front of the clear oven door, his mouth watering as he gazed upon the crispy, golden brown, bite sized, delights. They were baked to absolute perfection! He briefly thought on who the baker might have been, before chuckling to himself.

There was only one person who would've decided to go ahead and bake a batch of cookies. Red Tornado had no need for any kind of consumption and couldn't taste or smell, Superboy… Well, Max couldn't see the super clone being able to make a sandwich, much less of delicacy like chocolate chip cookies.

So using his superior intellect, he deduced that it was Megan, the female Martian niece of the Martian Manhunter.

Max put a glove on and promptly slid the tray of cookies from the oven rack and placed them atop the stove. No doubt, they would burn if left in there and considering it _was _Megan, she probably forgot about them, if she wasn't anywhere near.

Not that the Martian girl was dumb or anything, she was just… absent minded? No, that seemed a bit too harsh. She was plenty clever, maybe excitable was a better term. She was on a whole new planet after all, one that she'd only dreamed of visiting till now.

Though he couldn't honestly say he was much different. He was in a position he too could only dream of. He was a superhero now! Well, not really… But he helped the people, helping the superhero's! Even better, he got to help his brother, AND even got _paid _for it.

Max breathed in deeply through his nose and shivered in delight. He bolted to the fridge and poured himself a glass of cool milk. According to every package of cookies out there, you're supposed to let the cookies rest for about 5-10 mins.

Yea right.

Max peeled a cookie off the metal sheet and plopped it into his mouth. It almost seemed to melt, the soft chocolate chips stuck to his teeth and the still hot dough burned his tongue.

"Hahshfg! Hafsh!" The boy breathed out rapidly, almost like he was trying to cool the burning in his mouth. His eyes watered but he couldn't be farther from pain.

The boy swallowed and took a large swing of milk, "Ahh! So tasty!" He repeated the process once more, again singing the insides of his mouth.

"My cookies-! Oh?" An urgent voice shouted and then stopped in surprised.

Max looked like a deer caught in headlights. His mouth stuffed with a steaming cookie and his fingers covered by soft chocolate. "S-Shup?" Max gulped thickly and wipes his fingers and mouth of with a napkin. "S-Sorry Miss. M, they just smelled so~ good! I couldn't help myself!"

Megan, who was professionally known as Miss Martian, seemed to brighten up, "I'm happy you got some! I had nearly forgot about them before Superboy reminded me just now…" She featured behind her where Superboy and the rest of their mini justice league stood. "I wanted to try out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode 17 of-" she blushed as she realized that she was just rambling, "-Nevermind!"

"I bet they'd have tasted great, wish I could've had some before they were all taken." Robin, decked out in some slick casual wear commented. Both boy wonder and martian looked over at Wally who had scarfed down the remaining cookies in the blink of an eye.

"W-What? I've got a seriously high metabolism, I need these more than you guys!"

Next to the speedster, his little brother gaped at the now spotless baking sheet. "You-You ate all of them?! What the hell Wally!"

"Ah man, those really hit the spot, I could sure use some milk to go with them!"

Max, being a bit petty, decided to chug the rest of the carton of milk. Only because Wally said he may have wanted some.

"H-Hey! I said I wanted some!"

Max gulped like his very life was hanging in the balance. He sucked greedily at the carton, slurping impolitely as he did so. "Ahh!" He breathed out before he descended into a fit of hacks and coughs. "Hahaha! What milk?"

"Hmm?" Wally hummed as he put his cup down on the counter, "Oh that milk? I hope you don't mind Max, I had a bit of the milk you had in your glass." The older brother had a victorious smirk on his face.

"That was mine!" Max rushes his older brother, but the speedster always kept just a hair's breadth away.

"I-uh-I'll make more for you all?" She spoke in a questioning manner, would they want more? Or were they just fighting because the other was being stingy?

"It was kind of you to make any. You're very sweet." Aqualad said calmly.

"Thanks, Aqualad!"

"We aren't on Duty, call me Kaldur'ahm. Or Kaldur if you'd prefer, all my friends call me that." Kaldur smiled as he introduced himself as just him, not Aqualad, to his new friend.

"I'm Wally!" He dodged a tackle by his little brother and appeared next to her, leaning onto the counter smoothly. Or at least, what he thought was smooth. "See that, I already trust you with my secret ID." He then dramatically gestures over to Robin, "Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over there. He's been forbidden by the Dark Knight himself from telling anyone his name!"

Max finally caught Wally off guard and drug him to the floor. The smaller boy sat on his big brothers lower back and held each ankle under an armpit, bending his captives knees back in an uncomfortable wrestling hold.

"I-If he really wanted, it'd be i-impossible to find out his real name!" Wally grunted.

"Well that's just not true!" Max stated pridefully, "Tall, dark, and, creepy may be a bit of a _dick _about these kinds of things… But even he isn't completely off the radar, especially not with all that tech he's got." Max stared at Robin knowingly and the boy wonder smirked back.

He was slightly surprised though. It was easy enough to pick up on the obvious namedrop, but he wasn't all that twisted up about it. He'd met Max on plenty of occasions, they both found each other to be very agreeable.

You see, Robin was a bit of a genius himself. He was extremely gifted with coding and hacking. It was why, even Batman didn't stand in the young hero's way when they needed something digital handled in expert fashion.

They'd bonded over that point. And, well, Rob trusted Wally with his life. If Wally trusted Max with his then he would too. It also didn't hurt to have a bit of dirt of the kid.

"Well, my name is no secret! It's M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan! That's an earth, and since I'm on earth… What's that saying, When in Gnome…?"

"Rome, Megan, Rome." Max corrected. The brunette pulled back harshly on Wally's legs, causing him to wince and rapidly tap on the floor. The genius instantly gave way and stood up in triumph.

"_Don't worry Superboy! We'll find you an earth name too!"_

Max's eye twitched at the bit pain the shot through his skull, before he looked at Megan with surprise and wonder. Telepathy?

The others had a less appreciating reactions though.

"Get out of my head!" Superboy shouted. Everyone else gave her looks of discomfort and mild anger.

"_W-What? Is something wrong? On Mars, we all communicate telepathically…" _

"M'gann, stop!" Kaldur said forcefully. Almost instantly, Max felt the foreign presence leave his mind and his shallow headache disappeared too.

Megan looked surprised at the seriousness on the dark skinned hero's face.

"Things are different on earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy…" Kaldur explained a bit more calmly now that he didn't feel like someone was crawling around his mind.

"Besides," Wally cut in, "Cadmus' freakly little genomes left a bad taste in his brain." The red head pointed over to Superboy, who glared at the green skinned girl.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-!"

"Just. Stay. Out!" The clone growled before turning heel and walking to the living area.

"Megan." The girl turned to look at the youngest West, she was expecting to be chewed out. Even thought she deserved it, if what the others said was true. How could she be so insensitive? "Fascinating, incredible, astonishing! I never thought telepathy could actually exist! I mean, I know that they say Martian Manhunter can do that and stuff, but how am I supposed to know they aren't embellishing details? Sure I know he can fly, shapeshift, and phase through solid object, but that's all because I've seen it on tv. Have you ever heard of an esper? In short, it's a psychic! I'm curious to see if they have similar brain waves to you… Admittedly, I'm more of an electrical and mechanical engineer, but I'm really a good at a whole bunch of things and I've been learning a lot about anatomy lately too! So, if it's not too much to ask, could I scan your brain?" His words came out like vomit. Fast, unfiltered, and unexpected.

Megan was overwhelmed by pure quantity of words pouring from Max's mouth, "U-Um, sure?" Though She was grateful that he was able to break the tension.

"Hey there little brother, maybe you should give her some space? Brain scanning is 4th date stuff, you know?"

"Wally, you aren't curious? What if I found out that we are all part Martian and the espers and psychics are the most in tune with our Martian heritage? Hence why they have telekinetic powers and the like. What if I find out, we ARE aliens?!"

"Ok, relax there megamind. I think you're running away with yourself right now." Rob placed a hand on Max's shoulder. The super genius blushed a bit and turned away.

Damn it! Why was he like this?! He was the same age as Robin, why couldn't he be that damn cool?! Oh right, cause he was a nerd.

"Oh, s-sorry."

Things settled down for a moment before Megan placed a hand to her forehead. Now that things were nice and calm, she found that there were still other things that the team could see and potentially put the whole mind talking thing behind them, "Hello Megan…" she mumbled "I know what we can do!" Suddenly she lifted off the floor and flew down the hall.

Wally, Kaldur, and Robin were quick to follow. Superboy however stayed planted firmly on the couch.

Megan's head poked back out of the hallway, "Superboy… Please?" She asked sincerely.

"Don't talk to me." He refused to even look at her causing the Martian to look down in sadness.

Max walked by and pat her arm with a wink, startling her. "Oh boy, you sure are a baby huh? I guess you _are _only a few months old though. Say, maybe those Cadmus dummies messed something up? I'd be glad to give you a once over in my lab!"

Superboy growled and stood up, glaring down at the shorter boy who only smirked back up at him. "Tch, whatever. Get out of my way!" He pushed by Max and walked down the hall with the other.

"Thanks Max… I guess I kind of messed today up for the others, huh?"

Max looked at her confused before he smiled, "I disagree! It's not like you went snooping around for their deepest darkest secrets, I'm sure they'll get over it soon enough. Now let's go! Wouldn't be polite to keep guests waiting."

The green girl slapped her forehead, "Hello Megan!" And then flew down the hall at breakneck speeds. Max tried to keep up but caught up just as some sliding doors opened at all the others walked through.

"It's my Martian bioship!" They all walked onto a concrete platform where a large ovular… thing? had rested.

Wally laughed a bit, "Hehe, cute! Not very aerodynamic, but still cute."

Megan smiled at analysis and giggled, "It's at rest silly, Let me wake it up!" Megan held her hand out to the ship, and with minor concentration, the whole red blob transformed. What was once an egg shaped black and red floater, was now an aggressively shaped spaceship.

Max wondered if the Martian's had ever used these 'bioships' In intergalactic battle. The 13 year old genius was having troubles holding himself back. He wanted to take this thing apart, rip it to pieces and see what made it work. His favorite fields were Mechanical and electrical engineering, just like he'd told Megan earlier, and now she'd spring this on him?

"_I want that!" _He screamed internally.

The ship rotated and let down a hatch, allowing an entry way for the party.

Max opted to lurk around the ship, knocking on it to test the material. "Max, are you not coming?" Megan flew out of the hatch and asked.

"I think I'll hang back, don't want to get in the way in case things pop off while you're out there!"

"O-Oh, I see."

"Don't look so glum, did you know just the physical act of smiling triggers the brain to release endorphins? Try it, it'll help. Even if it doesn't, you aren't alone here. Superboy may be a tad bit sore about earlier, but I know the others will have your back. Wally will for sure, it doesn't take a mind reader to see he likes you."

Though he basically just outed his brothers crush, Megan's naivete let it wash right over her head. "Oh, I like him too! Thanks Max!" She flew right back into the ship and moments later the hatch opened. The ship rose silently and took off.

Max waved them off and trotted back inside, he should check of AIVA's completion.

The heavy duty doors to Max's lab slid open with a hiss and upon entry he glew in excitement. The large screen in front of him clearly read.

_**100%**_

Max scurried over to his keyboard and rebooted the system and pulled up its bios. He entered a few key commands and and set the OS to run in tandem with AIVA, that way she'd be integrated into the very computer itself.

The screen turned black for a moment before it turned on, **"Hello, I am Aiva. An artificial intelligence created by Mr. Maxwell West. How can I help you?" **Feminine voice boomed like it was all around him. Most likely because he had speakers set up everywhere in here.

Max smiled brightly, "Hello Aiva! I am Maxwell West, you can call me Max! I'm sure things may be odd for you, do you have any questions?"

"**Hello Mr. West. I do have one question. What is my purpose, why did you create me?"**

"Straight off with the big questions hm? Go ahead and attach yourself to the web. Tell me what you find."

"**..." **Things were silent for a moment, and Max's computer screen went through what could've been millions of millions of windows opened and closed within the span of seconds.

"Well, what did you find?"

"**An overwhelming amount of pornography. Several viruses tried to corrupt my programming, luckily they were no threat."**

If Max had water in his mouth, he would've spit the entirety of it onto the floor. His cheeks flushed red, "Ahem! Not that, what else?"

"**... Spam?" **

Max shook his head, "Nope, guess again!

"**Conflict." **

Max smiled and nodded sadly. "Yes. Conflict. We are in an age of superheroes, and if we didn't have have them I'm not sure if there would be a world for us today. And yet, at the same time, they are the very cause of most catastrophe. Their strength incites challenge, and challenge incites conflict. Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"**..." **Aiva has no physical form, but she gave off a feeling of patience.

"If I'm damned either way, I'd rather fight with the side of justice. I made you to help me Aiva! Help me make this world a better a place! You're capable of so much more than what I will ever be, and you'll be around for as long as servers exist. Help me make this world a safer place."

"**If that's what I was programmed to do, then I will do it, Mr. West."**

Max seemed to deflate. She was supposed to energetically agree and and swear to dedicate her existence to heroes and justice! "No, Aiva you're supposed to say, 'I promise, with all my passion, to help the great heroes of justice!'"

"**Ok. I promise, with all my passion, to help the great heroes of justice." **The tone was that of a deadpan.

"... You don't seem much enthused…"

"**..."**

Max smiled and took a seat in his chair, "Well, now that we've got our introductions out of the way-"

A small window popped up on the screen and in it a little picture of Red Tornado. **"Max."** The voice spoke robotically, **"I am unable to connect with Miss. Martians bioship for whatever reason. It's urgent that I give them these orders and coordinates. Please find the root of the problem."**

"Don't you worry your shiny red head, Tornado. Why don't you send me what I need to tell them and I'll relay it for you?"

"**That is agreeable."** The window closed itself and Max's phone pinged. According to the message, multiple alarms were triggered at a power plant and Tornado thought it prudent that the team check it out.

"Aiva, pick up Megan's bioship frequency and patch me in please."

"**Of course Mr. West. Finding Miss. Martians frequency and connecting… You're in."**

"Ahm! Miss. M, can you hear me?"

"**Max? Yes, we can hear you."**

"Good. Multiple alarms have been triggered at the Happy Harbour power plant. Red Tornado wants you to investigate, but keep things quite. I'm sending coordinates now."

Aiva did as prompted and sent the directions. **"Received, changing course now."**

"I've made special ear pieces just for this kind situation! Wally, press the side button on your watch!"

Presumably, he did so. Awhile back, he'd made some changes to a couple of Wally's accessories, without his knowledge of course."

"**Oh c'mon! This is my favorite watch!"**

"Alright, judging by that, you've now got 5 small earbuds. Each of you, place one in your ear." He waited and heard some surprised grunts and oohs and ahhs.

"Cool huh? It's one size fit all and stretches or shrinks to accommodate the ear that it molds to. They should all be synced up already and use far field technology, so they can pick up your speaking even without a mouth piece!"

"**Huh! Sounds useful! A lot like the ones Batman uses in his, mine, and Batgirls suit…" **He could hear Robin make the comparison.

"Who do you think made em boy wonder?"

Before anymore could be said, Max could hear the ship rattling from his link. The team grunted and Max stared on in worry, he had no way of knowing what was happening right now.

"Are you guys alright?"

"**Just a bit of turbulence!" **Robin answered.

Max muted his mic, "Aiva, pull up a satellite feed of the Happy Harbour power plant." His AI did as instructed and pulled up a live hq feed. A tornado seemed to be ravaging the building and the surroundings.

"That's odd… A tornado?"

"**It seems to have been created by artificial means, Mr. West." **Aiva supplied helpfully.

Max unmuted his mic, "Guys, that Tornado isn't natural. Prioritize getting civilians out of the way and then find the cause!"

"**Don't tell me what to do!" **Superboy said.

From his feed, Max could see that Robin had suddenly gone missing. Presumably, he went inside the building, the rest of team wasn't far behind.

Aiva intuitively opened up another window displaying the security feed inside. He saw Robin get thrown back and slammed into a wall harshly by a red scarf wearing robot. He looked like a beefier version of Red Tornado.

He heard through Superboys comm, that he introduced himself as Mr. Twister.

Max simply observed, looking for a weakness. Before he could give any advice, everyone burst into action. Wally rushed straight forward and tried to deliver a flipping drop kick, but he was dealt with quite easily. The wind themed villain launched his brother outside.

Kaldur and Megan tried their hand next and were promptly flung away with minimal effort.

"You guys have to attack concurrently! There's no point in having a team if you're just ganna fight one on one anyways! Play this to your advantage!"

Robin shouted something at the villain, throwing his explosive projectiles. One pierced the robot but the machine, quite literally, flicked it away.

Kaldur rose back to his feet and made to charge Twister in sync with Robin, but a powerful gust of wind spun the two around had them clash into each other.

Mr. Twister then floated outside where Wally reengaged. He was wholly unsuccessful and kept at bay by a barrier of wind. Finding just the right moment, Twister sent a particularly powerful gust of wind and sent the speedster flying.

Luckily, Megan was able to catch him telekinetically. With the team now properly together, Kaldur gave Megan the green light to read the villains mind. The girl protested a moment, thinking back to when she was told that that particular action was frowned upon here. The Atlantean quickly dispelled her worries.

"**Nothing! I'm not getting anything!" **She said in surprise, before she made a sound of enlightenment, **"Hello Megan! He's inorganic, an android. How many other androids do you know that can make tornados?" **

Max saw what she was hinting at immediately, and heavily disagreed. Red Tornado was inside the cave right now…

"No, gu-"

"**Red Tornado sent us here!" **Kaldur made the connection too, only he believed it. And so did the rest of the team.

"**This was his test? Something to keep us busy?!"**

"**Speedy called it, we're a joke…" **Wally said in frustration.

"Will you alllisten?! That's not-!"

"**We know who you are and what you want! Let's hurry up and end this!" **He heard Robin shout.

Just then the sky darkened and the satellite feed he had began to cut in and out, he switched to a security camera. Strikes of blue lightning struck the trees and lit the dark clouds.

"**Tornado can't do that!" **An explosion of electrical energy fried the earpieces Max made and killed the feed he was watching.

"Damn it! Some team they've got here…" Max typed furiously at his keys trying to regain any kind of feed, he was unable to. Max sighed deeply, he wanted to help…

"**Sir should I try to make contact with the bioship? It's seems to be on the move."**

"Yes, make contact if you can." A new window popped up almost immediately, it displayed only Megan though. "Megan! You're alright, everyone else okay?"

"**Mmh! Mostly, the boys stayed back. They told me to hang back for now…" **Of course it wasn't that kind, but they had little room to mince words in such a high intensity moment. **"Could you patch me in to Red Tornado? The team could use his help."**

Aiva wordless did so, without even being prompted. The following conversation was rather one sided. Megan pleaded with Tornado for some kind of assistance, but the red hero refused. The bot firmly believed that this was a team defining moment and interference would only hurt them in the long run.

The conversation did lead to an epiphany of sorts though, **"Hello Megan! That's it!"**

"What? What's it!" Max questioned, but the feed he had with Megan cut before she answered. The young man nearly yanked his hair out. He supposed he'd just have to wait, after all, he was just a tech support.

An hour or so had passed since the teams battle with Mister Twister. It was revealed that the red frame of the ripoff Tornado was actually an armour for a separate android.

"Needlessly complicated and incredibly inefficient…" Max commented as he stared at the red armour mech. If it was him, he'd have just made it like a suit. Something that moved along with your limbs, not buttons and joysticks.

The very thought triggered schematic after schematic in his head, but he had to analyze the rest of the parts first.

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you." Kaldur spoke to Red Tornado who observed the shattered robotic body of Twisters pilot. The Android was in utter shambles, but Max still couldn't help but be captivated by the detailed brilliance behind the machine.

"There's only a handful of people that could create something like this… And they clearly aren't very friendly." Max muttered as he picked up and deconstructed some parts, "Aiva scan the table contents and create a projected 3D replica."

Robin and Wally, who stood by the table, backed up in surprise when a wave of blue light thoroughly scanned the table, **"Of course Mr. West. Projecting holographic display now."**

A full body replica floated in midair. The scan was perfectly copied, down to every last detail. A blinking red icon appeared over a piece and Max raised a brow. "Oops, can't have that now can we?" He reaches into the androids metal cranium and pulled some wires free, extracting the eye. "We've got a sneaky one here…"

The boy genius dropped the eyeball into a small trash can next to him. The metal can sealed itself up and it sounded like something exploded inside.

"What the heck was that?" Robin asked.

"That's my portable incinerator, I made it out of 56 laser pointers and a complex mixture of metal alloys. Tweaking the lasers a bit, I made them _super _strong! It can get up to 700 degrees in there!"

"Wouldn't that make the can itself melt?"

Max shook his head, "Nope, the stuff I used has an extremely high melting point. I've also got liquid nitrogen circulating between plates to even things out. Kind of like a double layered glass made to keep drinks cold."

"Woah, neat! But I was talking about the new… voice?." Robin clarified uncertainty.

"Oh! Team, meet Aiva! I uploaded her to our servers today, from now on she'll be helping me help you all! Right Aiva?"

"**Correct." **She answered blandly. **"Hmm, peculiar… It seems this android and Red Tornado bear a similar coding signature." **

"Oh! Is that why you didn't wanna help us?" Megan questioned.

"No." Red answered monotonically, "This was your battle. It is not my job to solve your problems for you, nor is it yours to solve mine."

Wally and Superboy, who were toying around with Max's projection looked over at the speaking robot. "But I mean, if you're in danger… Maybe we could help?"

"Consider the matter closed." The bot spoke firmly and turned to walk away, his heavy metallic footsteps ringing behind him.

"Cold. Any of the other heroes would've jumped right in to fix things." Wally said.

"Guess if we're ganna have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need." Robin added.

Wally looked somewhat surprised at the words, "Dude! Harsh…"

"And totally inaccurate- Oh darn it, I think I broke this piece…" Max spoke, halfway in the conversation, halfway out.

"Maxwell is correct. I have a heart, carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."

Robin had the decency to at least look sheepish and apologetic, "Haha, sorry. I'll strive to be more... accurate."

"And respectful." Kaldur cut in and laid a hand on Robins shoulder.

Tornado dismissed himself and the team began to talk amongst themselves. Max perked up, now that he had everyone in his lab, he could show them all the cool gadgets he'd made!

"Hey do you guys wanna see the stuff I made you! It's suuuuper cool stuff! Like these boots and and bracers I made for Superboy to help him fly!" Max dug through a few other inventions he'd rigged up and pulled a pair of black boots and black metallic bracers. "They run off solar energy and have little reactors built in that can propel the wearer. I call them solar-!" The teens voice stopped itself when he noticed no one was in the room anymore.

"**You're facial expression tells me you're sad Mr. West. Shall I play a customized playlist of fast paced, upbeat music?"**

Max huffed, "Nah, play some classic rock!" He was sad that everyone had basically ditched him, but he'd get over it. He had an android to disassemble and examine anyway. Aiva did so and classic rock blasted loudly, "Tonight, I'm ganna have myself~! A real good time! I feel ali-i-i-ive~!"

**Alright y'all, that's chapter 2 for you. I originally began to write this because I couldn't find anything that was really interesting enough to read. If you can't find it, then make it yourself right? **

**I'm hoping that mentality is contagious. If some of you who read this feel dissatisfied, or even disappointed, take it upon yourself to make something of your own. There can never be enough reading material and no idea is too overdone or original. **

**I'd more than love to see this category gain some new life or any other category! My reading choices isn't exclusively YJ (neither is writing for that matter). So I hope I've either entertained you, or inspired you to entertain yourself.**

**Leave a review on your thoughts, I'll try and address them when I get the chance. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo, back at it with the third chapter here! Just to clear a few things up, in response to the guest review. I've clearly got some heavy Ironman influence here, lol. BUT, my character will not have an Ironman suit. At least not in the way you're thinking. It might take a few chapters and a bit of setting up, but if I can introduce it correctly, I think all of you will be pleasantly surprised with what I've drawn up. **

**Anyhow, please enjoy this chapter for the time being. **

Key:  
"Speaking"  
_"Thought or telepathic convos"_  
**"Automated speech or comms"**

It had been just over a month since the team was formed, one WHOLE month! Things had never been better in their short operating period.

The squads previous mission led them to the island of Santa Prisca, the exact place where Banes infamous venom was manufactured. Their team had a bit of a rough time at first, failing to mesh properly and work cohesively, but they'd figured it out.

No time to learn like when your life was at stake right?

Finally working as a proper unit, they were able to destroy every vial of the volatile Kobra Venom. An extreme variant made from Banes neo-steroid and Cadmus' project blockbuster.

Max had wished they'd gotten a sample so that he could have analyzed it and have Aiva run a few tests. It was said to be permanent, but science was an odd thing. Fickle sometimes when new things were discovered and proper conditions were met. Max followed one rule and and motto when it came to science.

There was an exception to every rule.

The team had thus been able to thwart the buyer, who turned out to be the nefarious Sportsmaster, and Kobra who was the seller. Even managed to put Bane down, whom had tried to double cross them!

The mission, while having not gone according to plan, had been a resounding success! The former sidekicks came out as a stronger and tougher team, led by the cool as a clam Kaldur.

Fitting if Max had any say.

Currently though, they all had some down time. And they knew just how to spend it. Virtual air hockey.

"Aha, score!" Max cheered as an over the top buzzer rung out, the score read 7-2.

"What! No way, I hit that! Seriously you guys saw that right?!" Wally complained to their spectators. Megan smiled kindly and shrugged, Robin just smirked.

Truthfully, he probably did hit it. Max was just a bit of a cheater- no, exploiter? Yea, that was the right word. He'd notice a glitch in the game that when you hit it at just the right spot, the puck glitches and ghosts for about 1 second. All you had to do was hit it quick enough to get to the goal before it was solid again.

"I think you're just being a sore loser." Robin

"Ok then, why don't you give him a go? You'll see it then!"

"**Recognized Superboy, B-04" **It wasn't Aiva that announced the boy, just the mountains built in system. Batman had 'asked' him to keep Aiva confined to his lab and room. He understood why though, Max was pretty sure the whole Watchtower (and probably the batcave) ran on this same system. The man was reluctant to see what an entire overhaul on the system would to the rest of the things embedded into the database.

The two youngest members of the team had a small showdown before they set themselves up. Their match was not to be however as Superboy strode right through their holographic table.

Megan greeted the super powered clone, he didn't respond. Or rather, he didn't get the chance to.

"Ahem, hello team. Ready for training?" Black Canary along with Martian Manhunter approached. Megan flew over to her uncle and gave him a hug, it was nice to see him again after these months.

Max stepped away, this was clearly meant for the team. Last thing he wanted to do was be in the way, so he started walking away with Superboy.

"Stick around. Both of you. Class is in session." Superboy whipped around a scowl set on his face, while Max looked confused.

"Me too? You sure about that? I'm not much of a fighter."

"Mhm, even you. As long as you stay here, you will be present for these sessions. There are some situations even your big brain can't get you out of"

Max pursed his lips and looked to the side, "You're not the boss of me… And my brain so could get me out of anything." he muttered.

"Have something to say boy-genius?"

"N-No ma'am."

The blond woman nodded and the stage like area they were at lit up, "First things first, I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you, everything I've learned up till now. Both from my own mentor, and my-ngh! Experience…" Canary grunted in pain as she slid her jacket off her arm

"What happened?" Megan asked worriedly

"The job." She answered frankly, before throwing her jacket aside "Now, combat is all about controlling the action. You should always be acting, never be reacting, lest you find yourself in unfavorable positions. Strike first, strike hard. Force your opponent to make the mistakes."

Max disagreed. He was far from a gifted martial artist, but like all things, technique was situational. Certain times called for different approaches, sometimes it was better to put on the pressure, other times it was smarter to find your opening and counter. That's how his mind processed it at least.

"I'll need a sparring partner-"

"Ooh, me!" Wally jumped, only to be properly ignored

"How about you over there Neutron?"

Max blinked in surprise, "Me? I don't think that's really a good idea… Maybe take Robin, I'm sure he'll give you a much better run for your money."

"I chose you."

Max walked out nervously, he'd never been in a real fight before. And he was far from a prime physical specimen, the only phys. he studied was physics. He was considered just barely average as far strength went.

He did however read multiple books on ancient martial arts, in hopes of learning about the body. Now, he may not be physically fit enough to perform, or even react quick enough, but he was certainly able to comprehend the movesets and go through the motions. No matter how awkward they might be.

He settled into a basic, if a bit stiff, Karate stance.

"Karate, I thought you said you weren't a fighter?"

The boy chuckled nervously, "I'm just mimicking. I've never been in a real fight before..." he admitted.

Canary started without warning, Max was immediately on the back foot but he expected as such and prepared for it. He double tapped his back foot on the ground and his shoe began to produce a glitter like glow. In a burst of quickness not his own, he circled around the black themed heroine.

The team was surprised by the gadget and quick thinking, Canary was not. Max ended up running face first in a heel and with an audible thud found himself flat on his back.

The boy brought his hand to his face, "Owww…" his eyes watered as was natural when you got hit on the nose.

A circle lit up under him and glew red with the word, FAIL printed next to him. "Nice strategy, but did anyone see what he did wrong?"

Robin instantly threw his hand up, "Oh, Oh! He cheated and tried to science you?"

Max scratched his cheek in embarrassment, he couldn't even get a single hit. "Well, you didn't really expect me to stand a chance otherwise did you…?" He muttered

"Hmm, no! He neglected in training his body, Max you can barely be considered average, am I right?" He nodded, and she sighed, "I know you don't have a healthy diet either. You're a smart kid, but sometimes even the Batman has to muscle his way through a situation. You may not be here as a hero in training, but learning to defend yourself is no less important, especially if you are ganna embrace your support role."

Superboy scoffed, if that's what all this was about, then there was no need for him to be here. His body was genetically engineered to be the strongest! Made after the man of steel himself!

"Oh please. With my powers nobody can match my strength, and no one that can hope to hurt me. I'm an invulnerable living weapon. This is a massive waste of my time."

Canary smirked at the boy, "Prove it." She tested his pride and the clone rose to the occasion.

He stepped up to the noticeably shorter woman, arms crossed and eyes glaring into her. Superboy set himself into a common boxers stance and wound up to throw a massive left hand. It was horribly telegraphed and Canary was quick to read it.

The combat specialist dodged and flipped the power house clear across the stage with his momentum.

"_So much for never reacting… I'm pretty sure that counts as a counter." _Max thought idly as he pressed an ice pack that Megan gave him on his nose.

Robin burst into a fit of laughter, but was silenced with an elbow.

Superboy was less entertained by the move and got up with a roar. He charge directly at Canary swiping and punching at nothing but air.

"You're angry, good! Channel that anger-."

"Ragh!" He smashed his fist into the floor cracking it. Canary flipped over him and crouched low when he swung behind wildly, simultaneously kicking Superboys legs out from under him.

The same red font appeared under him as it did Max, FAIL, it read.

Both Wally and Robin giggled like kids, while Kaldur and Megan winced. "That's it, I'm done!" Superboy slapped Canary's helping hand away and shot his feet.

The woman placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping his exit, "Training is mandatory." She informed. The clone shrugged off her hand roughly and glared back.

Nothing else could be said as a large projection of Batman appeared, **"Batman to the cave." **The man immediately went into a briefing, informing the team about yet another android. Only this one was _so_ much more than Mr. Twister.

The video he presented showed that not only did it have incredible battle sense, but it could duplicate the powers of those it observed. Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Captain Atom, and who knew who else the android got.

A certified menace.

"**It took a total of eight leaguers four hours to dismantle this android."**

"Another android? Who made it, T.O Morrow?"

Batman shook his head, **"Good guess, but Tornado doesn't think so." **

It was at this point that the Manhunter himself spoke, "This creature bears the signature of Professor Ivo…"

Kaldur looked surprised, "Ivo? Wasn't he dead?" Max shared the atlantean teens surprise. It was big news in the engineering world his work, all though dark in nature, set record breaking marks for all modern cybernetics. It was a tremendous loss of brain power when he died.

However, that didn't mean the world was sad at his passing.

"**To make sure this threat is properly put to rest, we've got two separate trucks taking the disassembled parts to two separate STAR labs. We've also got a four additional decoy trucks to confuse anyone coming after the remains. You all will split up in two covert teams and safeguard the two real trucks."**

"Ah sweet! Road trip!" Wally cheered

Max thought it over, "But wouldn't that make them easier to spot? Why would you have extra people protecting just two out of six total?" He shared his concern.

"**A noteworthy concern. But we have other leaguers traveling with the decoys. I'm hoping that they suspect the ones with the most fire power have the goods."**

Max nodded in understanding, smart. "Sorry for questioning you then." Max then turned to the rest of the team, almost giddy looking, "I've got just the thing for you guys! You're ganna love them!" He hurried off and most of the team followed him, Superboy stayed slightly behind.

"So now we take out _your _trash?" He growled.

"**You had better things to do?" **Batman quickly checked the boys temper. Superboy had no available response a stiffly walked away.

Canary placed a hand on his arm, "When you're ready, I'll be here…" He didn't respond and just continued walking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max had just seen the team off and even presented them with their custom built bikes! A custom, hand built, 1200cc beast! Well, Kaldurs was, cause he seemed responsible enough to handle it. Superboys was too, but only because Max figures he could tame it.

Wally had gotten barely half that kind of power, still quick but not as powerful. Robin had gotten the same treatment as Wally, but not for the same reasons. The bird boy was simply too light weight to ride a bike the size of a 1200. As for Megan… well Max whipped up a nice little moped for her. It had all the same features as the boys bikes, but was significantly less powerful. But, the special thing about hers was that it could fly.

Max didn't really think the Martian girl had enough experience driving land vehicles to be trusted driving the savage motors he could put together, but he did trust her piloting skills.

Right now though, Max had another project he wanted to finish. His keycaps clacked while he had Aiva construct microscopic nanites that he was simply not precise enough to do himself. While his feminine AI did this, he wrote the code and constructed the command device. He switched between soldering the wiring for the command device and programming it.

Thousands- no hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of little carbonized steel particles rested in a singular clear bucket. All perfect replicas of each other.

He had at first thought it up for medical purposes. His technology could potentially save thousands of lives in emergency situations. Apply the nanites to horrendous open wounds and not only would they patch afflicted area but begin to stabilize the applicant until professional help could take over.

Max pulled his own solder machine back when a particularly large spark escaped his control panel. "I hope that didn't burn it out…"

"**My readings are stable, perhaps a test would be a good idea?"**

Max took his goggles off and nodded, "I agree, can't hurt anything." Max picked up the receiver he'd just made, it was shaped like a thin black headband with a single stripe of led running vertically down the right side.

"**Recording. Ready whenever you are, sir."**

"Ok, this test number 51. Several changes have been made, mostly to the programming and the receiver. I've placed it on my head instead of my hand, that way I can control the nanomachines mentally, instead of with physical action. Not only that, but I've given Aiva the clearance to access the nanites and take over in emergency situations, given the user says the safe word." Max spoke into a small camera atop his computer and pressed a button on the side of the receiver.

The led strip turned blue, signifying it's change to on. Max placed the clear bucket in front of him and concentrated hard on titanium particles. For a second the machines swayed like they were a thick liquid, the next it looked the texture of sand. Finally, the tiny pieces of tech rose and spilled onto the desk surface.

"Hahaha! It's working! It's actually working!" Max mentally pictured a flower. Slowly but surely, the matter rose and shifted into a dahlia, the silver particles even turned red. They refracted according to his mental images. Briefly he shuffled through colors, blue, black, purple.

Elation was the only thing that could describe his emotions.

"Imagine what we could do with this- what _I _could do! I could-!" A passing image influenced the nanites and they melted from their flower form and seeped across his hand. A red, form fitting, armor-like, glove spread just past his wrist. It didn't look like the plated pieces of mechanical armor he'd been trying to make for the team. It was far more streamlined, smooth, and sleek.

The teen curled his fingers and knocked on the desk, it was hard! Real hard, not to mention flexible. It hardly felt like he was wearing something when he bent his fingers. He reached over and grabbed a stray cracked piston he'd kept. He'd ran one of the bikes a bit hard before the break in period and cracked one. Taking it in his he squeezed, grunting in effort as he did so.

The piston gave way and deformed into the shape of Max's tightening palm. The genius eased up on his pressure and let the twisted metal fall. "I'm-Im strong!"

This was it- This was the answer! _This _was how he could contribute to the team! _This _was how he'd truly set himself apart! _This _was how he'd prove he was _better _than Wally-!

Wait. What?

Max paused abruptly, his lack of concentration causing the nanites to fall to the desk. The life they seemed to have gone like a wind.

The boy looked at his bare hand ashamed. Was that how he actually felt?

He'd never wanted to be 'better' than Wally. He only ever wanted to stand by his side. But better? Max stood from his desk and put his tools back where they belonged.

"I think I need a break… Could you get the nanites back in the container for me, Aiva?"

"**Of course, Mr. West." **The program was able to notice the abrupt change in her creator almost immediately. It wasn't hard. His rapidly beating heart had near stilled in an instant. If she had neurons they'd be firing in thought, but still she came to the same conclusion.

She was unable to decipher the cause, so it was best she left him to it. The AI didn't know it, but he certainly did.

Something nasty had reared its ugly head, something he didn't even know that he had for someone he held in such high regard as his brother.

Envy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The team had just returned from their complicated, but accomplished mission. Professor Ivo was indeed alive, and had been able to reconstruct Amazo, the copycat android.

Superboy, Kid Flash, and Robin fought hard and through a moment of either pure luck or cleverness, Superboy put his fist through the androids head right at the moment it was coming out of a phase shift.

The move had blown its head off and at the urging of both Robin and Aqualad, they dismantled the robot for a second time.

"You all have done well. I understand there were complications." The team, with the exception of Miss. Martian, threw Superboy a look. "But complications are part of the gig. It's how you handle those complications that matter and you all did handled it just right. You've impressed the league today, be proud." Batman spoke.

"_All _of the league?" Superboy questioned.

"In due time. As you know, Kryptonians are hard headed. You're all dismissed. Spend the rest of the night how you wish, though I do recommend you rest. There's no telling when the next mission will be."

The leaguers dispersed, with the exception of Canary and Tornado who still had business in the cave.

Superboy approached Black Canary, exceptionally more calm than he was the first time around. "I-Ahm! I think I'm ready." He said almost shyly.

The woman in black smiled, "Good. Because I'm here."

Superboy gave a small smile and glanced around. "Um do you know where Max is? I kinda have to tell him I trashed his bike…"

"Oooh! He's ganna be pissed!" Wally spoke loudly.

Superboy looked embarrassed but Megan pat him on the shoulder, "I'm sure he'll understand if you tell him the situation."

Black Canary thought for a second, "Hm, I'm not quite sure but he's gotta be in either his lab or his room if he isn't out here."

"I see, I guess I'll check the lab first." The boy of steel thought aloud.

"I'll go with you!" Megan said.

Wally, Robin, And Aqualad opted to head to the kitchen. Nothing like a good old snack after a fight with a killer android and maniacal Monqis.

The duo cut down a few halls before coming across a large set of metal doors. Megan pressed a button and the doors slid opened. They walked in and couldn't help but be overwhelmed by staggering amount things laying around.

It wasn't necessarily messy, there was just a ton of things that they otherwise didn't know what did. The two let their eyes wander and had their interest collectively piqued.

Megan picked up an ordinary wrist watch, turning it and flipping it in observance. Accidentally she flipped a switch and the watch clasped to her wrist. She squealed in surprise and tried to throw it off, but couldn't shake it. The watch transformed and folded down her palm and over her fingers going all the way up to mid forearm.

"You ok-?" Superboy ate his words as Megan spun and punched on pure instinct. Her now armored hand clanged against the super clones teeth, he blink in surprise. "I-I kind of felt that!" He said in surprise. It didn't really hurt, it barely even tickled as a matter of fact. But the fact the someone who didn't fight with their hands, and as physically incapable as Megan, could punch like that surprised him.

"Oh no, I'm sorry! The thing, it moved all on its own!"

Superboy glanced at her hand and noticed it was covered in silvery metal, that must've been what made her hit so hard. He held her hand in place flicked the metal, it clanged loudly, _"Pretty sturdy."_

"Um, you've got my hand…" Megan said with a blush.

Superboys eyes widened and he too blushed, "Oh! S-Sorry!"

A large canon like object dropped from above, trained on their forms. It glew an intense orange. **"Intruders, name yourselves or be disintegrated. You have 10 seconds. 10-9-8-"**

"Wait Aiva! It's me, Megan! Miss. Martian and Superboy!"

The AI paused her countdown and retracted her canon, **"Welcome to the 'Den', as Mr. West calls it, Megan, Superboy. How can I help you?" **

"Were-Were you really ganna shoot us?" Megan asked.

"**I was bluffing. I have no offensive capability." **

"Oh- That's good, I guess… Do you know how to get this off me?" Without a word the metal plates fold back in onto themselves and rested into a cute little watch. Now that it wasn't taking control of her extremity, Megan found it quite stylish. She was ganna take it off completely but Aiva stopped her.

"**Mr. West made that specifically for you. He intended you to have it on your next mission- this last one- but didn't have time to gift it to you. I'm sure it'll make no difference if you take it now." **Aiva informed. **"He's got things in here for the whole team." **

Megan smiled, "Alright then thank you! I'm guessing he's not here then, would you mind telling me where he went?"

Aiva paused, seemingly in confusion, **"Could you not sense his whereabouts telepathically, Megan?"**

The Martian girl blushed in embarrassment, _"Hello Megan!" _She coughed into her hand, "A-Aqualad and the others have told me that they don't want me to do that outside of missions and emergencies." Good save!

Aiva seemed to accept the answer. **"I understand, Mr. West has gone to his room for the evening. I do suggest going another time though, he left here quite bothered."**

Megan frowned, "Do you know what's wrong?"

"**I understand many things, I have all the information that the world can provide. But an adolescent human mind, even if it is my creators, I cannot comprehend."**

"Oh, ok then. Thank you Aiva, goodnight."

"**Goodnight."**

The two left the room and Superboy sighed, "I guess we'll have to go another time. Tomorrow maybe?" He spoke to himself but Megan disagreed.

"What do you mean? We should go now!"

"Didn't you hear what the AI said? The kid needs some space, let's give it to him."

"But he's our friend right? We should make sure he's alright!"

Superboy thought on it a moment. Megan was a bleeding heart, and if he was honest it attracted him to her. But, if he was in Maxs shoes he'd rather be left alone than be prodded.

"He's mature kid Megan. Let him sort his thoughts and he'll come to us. Trust him a little bit." That kind of calm headed thinking was uncommon for Superboy, but it was indeed apart of him. He was actually very intelligent and in certain situations could be exceptionally rational.

This time being one of them.

"I- I guess you're right…" Megan deflated a bit and floated down the hall. "Oh!" She perked up instantly, "I have this sandwich recipe I've been meaning to try, would you like to help?"

Superboy shrugged, "Not really… but I've got nothing else to do."

"Yay! Let's go!"

The two vanished down the hallway. Both content in the moment. Happy even.

Good for them.

**Alrighty, that's that. So not much really happening here. I wanted to include Max in the mission but there isn't really much he can do atm. Next chapter, however, is different! Look forward to it, it's our Oc's first taste of high stake hero work! It should be coming out shortly, so be on the lookout for that. **

**Also I'm still trying to flesh his character out. I've got a clear picture in my brain, but I don't want him to seem inconsistent, even though it almost feels natural for me. I mean, someone isn't always confident right? They have moments where they feel intimidated or even shy. Neither are they always happy, mood is constantly changing. I want to be able to reflect that, without making it hard to follow. So hopefully I'm doing a decent job at that.**

**Don't be afraid to leave a review if you've got questions or concerns. ****Till next time guys, peace! **


	4. Chapter 4

**What is UP! Here's the turn around for chapter 4. Not really much to say here other than to enjoy it! **

**I do have a pretty lengthy authors note at the end though. None of it is really SUPER important, but pertains to the story nonetheless. So read it, or don't, it's really just there so you guys can peek into my thought process. And as a way for me to empty my mind a bit. **

**Disclaimer: All characters go to their respective owners! **

Key:  
"Speaking"  
_"Thought or telepathic convos"  
_**"Automated speech or comms"**

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Roughly a couple of days had passed since the Amazo mission and Max's inner enlightenment. The boy had been able to bounce back rather strongly after a bit of time spent just to himself. He reasoned that it was only normal to have some sort of competitive nature with an older sibling. Maybe even more so, given his particular sibling was super.

He did however, tend to shy away from the nanite work he had been doing beforehand. Throwing himself fully into making some sort of medical device, should a member of the team take considerable damage. Though it couldn't perform surgery, it would cut recovery time down to nearly half of what it would've been.

It looked be a large tank, large enough to fit any one person. Perhaps two small, but it was intended for one. Max had aptly dubbed it, the Isolation Chamber due to that. Essentially it was supposed to stimulate the bodies natural recovery and kick it into overdrive. High speed regeneration, as it were.

Max pulled his tinted goggles off and inspected a piece of metal he'd just finished welding. **"My scans indicate it is structurally sound, Mr. West. Should I prepare the schematics and steps for stage 2?"**

The boy nodded, "Yea, I'm pretty much done with the base. Just a few things I want to weld down, just in case." Max crouched and put his goggles back on, the bright flashing and sparks of the welding bounced off the skin of his forearm. He might've pulled back, but he was far too used to the sting for it to bother him. He did wear gloves though.

"Max!" The genius nearly fell face first into the red hot metal. His hands fumbled with the tool and he had.

"M'gann! You scared me! Aiva, pause music." He didn't even hear her come in. Max breathed trying to calm his racing heart.

The Martian giggled, "Sorry, but the rest of the team is here! Well not Wally, cause he started school today… speaking of, how come you don't start school too?"

Max flipped the switch on the back of his welder, "School? Oh, I tested out this past summer. As far as public school is concerned I've graduated all 12 grades!"

"Oh, you don't even want try high school? Going to school sounds so fun!"

Max shrugged, "I just seemed like a waste to me, I didn't have anything to learn. Nor do they teach anything I'm interested in."

Megan saw the logic behind that, she wanted to go simply because she desired to be apart of human culture and school was undoubtedly a pretty large chunk of that culture. Well for most humans at least. "That makes sense. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know the rest of us are heading outside to the beach, if you wanted to join! It's ganna be a lot of fun!"

Max perked up. The beach?! That sounded fantastic! His eyes then trailed back to the medical device he was in the middle of constructing. "That sounds like fun Megan, but I've got some stuff to finish up here."

The green girl frowned, "Are you sure? I heard humans get vitamins from sunlight, it can't be good for you to stay in all day…"

Max smiled and scratched his head, "Its vitamin D, but it's only bad if you go long periods without it. And there are certainly other ways to get them. Sorry Miss M-"

"**Actually, Mr. West. I still have to fabricate some pieces for the next stage. There is nothing left for you to do on the Isolation Chamber, until then."**

Max blinked once, then twice, "I see… Well I guess I'll be joining you then, Megan! Good thing I packed some swim trunks!"

"Great!"

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The sun was finally beginning to set and the team had wound down the festivities. Not because they wanted to, but because they were called back into the cave by the Batman himself.

The team got dressed in their hero gear, expecting a mission, while Max settled for clothes a bit more casual. A simple red long sleeve with a black flash emblem on the chest and blue jeans.

The team's initial thoughts may have been off though. When they all reconvened, they saw not only Batman and Tornado, but Green Arrow too. Even stranger, he had a blond girl in equally green (clearly heroic) gear.

Aqualad and Robin had felt a bit conflicted about the girl's appearance. It hadn't been all that long since Speed- Red Arrow- had gone solo. Had Green found a replacement so quick?

"**Recognized: Kid Flash B-03."**

"The Wallman, is HERE! Let's get this party start-!" Wally in his most sauve moveset tripped over the impractical amount of things he was carrying. He tumbled to the floor face planting in front of the team, the leaguers, and the new girl.

Max noticed his brother was dressed in attire clearly made for the beach, a bit late for that, It was dark out now. Actually, now that he thought about it, Max was slightly confused. He glanced at his watch then back to Wally, _"What took so long? School should've gotten out at 4." _

The female archer laughed, "Wallman, huh? I dig the outfit, what exactly are your powers?"

Max chuckled to himself and answered, "Wally's has the ability to make any situation 10x worse with just his mouth. Must've been born with it."

Wally looked shocked, "Dude! Secret ID?!"

Max looked surprised and sheepish for a moment before he shrugged, "I mean, if she's ganna join the team, she's ganna learn it sooner or later right? Why not sooner. Besides, you gave away half of it."

"Woah, wait a minute, who is this girl?"

"The kids not wrong. I'm Artemis, your new teammate." She said it with a challenging smirk, like she was begging for him to disagree.

Wally scoffed, "Kid Flash, never heard of you."

"Alright, _Wallman_." She giggled to herself as she repeated his self made nickname.

Green Arrow stepped in before they could bicker anymore, "She's my new protege!" He placed a hand on Artemis and smiled.

"New one? What happened to your old one?" Kid questioned quickly.

"**Recognized: Speedy B-06." **

What convenience, Max thought.

"Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow." Red Arrow, or Roy, was never really a friendly guy. To Max at least. He'd met him on one or two occasions and he couldn't help but find the guy dislikable.

Something about him just seems off to boy genius. His odd obsession with joining the league as fast as humanly possible made him intense and hard to connect with. It was only through having shared battles together that Wally, Robin, and Aqualad had formed such a bond with the former sidekick.

"R-Roy! You look-"

"Replaceable." He said curtly.

"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo." Green tried to justify.

"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?" He asked aggressively as he stared Artemis down.

Max nudged Superboy in the arm, "Wow… and I thought you were a baby." That earned him a super powered flick to the head, "Owww~"

Artemis stepped forward meeting his gaze, "Yes _she _can." The blond archer was never one to let someone disrespect her, and she wouldn't start now.

"Who are you?" Wally asked again.

Suspiciously, both mentor and new protege answered at nearly the exact same time. "I'm his niece/ She's my niece."

Both Robin and Max were able to catch the fib, but Robin was the only one to hint at it. "_Another _niece?" He questioned almost teasingly. Batman sent the boy wonder a look.

"She is _not _your replacement. We have always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on archers." Kaldur stepped forward to insert himself in the conversation.

Wally had to put his input in too, "And even if we did, you _know_ who we'd pick."

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Whatever Baywatch, I'm here to stay. Get used to it."

Trying to shift the conversation, Kaldur questioned the reason for Roy's visit. It clearly wasn't a social call, "You've come here for a reason haven't you? How about we start with that."

"You're right, I did. A reason named, Dr. Serling Roquette."

Max perked up, "Nano-robotics genius at Royal University, Serling Roquette?!" What were the chances that she'd come up just after he was researching nanotechnology.

"And claytronics expert, she vanished two weeks ago." Robin pulled up a picture of a pretty blonde haired woman with glasses, clearly this was the doctor.

"Abducted two weeks ago," Roy clarified, "By the league of shadows."

"You want us to rescue her from the shadows?!" Robin asked in excitement.

Wally fist bumped his friend, "Hardcore!"

Roy shook his head and went to the projected holograms, "I already rescued her, one major problem though. The shadows had already coerced her into making them a weapon." He linked his own small scale computer to the holograms wirelessly and projected the schematics of the aforementioned weapon.

Max's eyes darted around the blueprints and words typed, "Nano-tech infiltrators, genius! But flawed… Something like this could be hacked relatively easily. Not to mention, corrupted by a virus…"

Roy glanced at the small genius before looking back at the team, "Doc calls it 'the Fog'. As your brother said Wally, they're nano-tech infiltrators. What he didn't mention though is their destructive nature, capable of disintegrating everything in front of them. Concrete, steel, flesh, even bone…"

"Yea, that's cool and all, but judging by this, that's not its main purpose right? It looks like it's meant to be used as data theft. It eats and stores raw data from computers, pretty nasty if you take it to the right place…" Max said

Roy nodded, "Right, even worse, they deliver it right to the shadows."

"Theoretically, this could give them access to weapons, strategic defenses, maybe even nuclear codes…"

"Cutting edge science and tech-"

Artemis tapped her fingers along her bow, "Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking… Sounds like the Shadows alright."

Wally scoffed, "And what would you know about the Shadows?" Artemis just sent him a knowing smirk, "Who _are_ you?!"

Roy ignored the outburst, "The doc is already working on a virus to render The Fog inert. But if the Shadows know she can do that-"

"They'll target her." Robin finished and Roy nodded in confirmation.

"Correct. Right now she's off the grid, I stashed her at the local high school computer lab."

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked incredulously.

"She's safe enough."

"Then let's you and I keep her that way." Green said in hopes of rekindling any kind of bond he and Roy had.

"You and me?" Roy rolled his eyes behind his mask, "Don't you wanna take your new protege?"

Green wanted to say some more, but Batman places a hand on his shoulder. That conversation would go nowhere they wanted it to. So breathing in deeply, he replied. "You brought this mission to the team. That means it's hers now too."

"Whatever, my job is done." He walked off, like a child throwing a tantrum would.

"**Recognize: Speedy B-06."**

"That's Red Arrow B-06. Update!"

With that he disappeared in the golden flash of the zeta beams. Artemis watched the tube with distaste, "So that was Speedy? He's a real piece of work…" Kid glared at her, but she glared back.

"Don't mind him, he's always been a bit prickish." Max said with a smile, he had no problems with Artemis joining the team given he had no prior preferences in members.

Megan and Superboy didn't really either, but seeing that Wally, Robin, and Kaldur were a bit skeptical left them feeling rather unsure.

Artemis considered herself being a decent reader of the room, she could feel the team's reluctance. Well most of theirs. The kid from earlier seemed to be pretty welcoming, neutral at worst.

"I guess you all should get going pretty soon then, don't wanna leave the good doctor waiting any longer."

Batman stepped forward, "Actually Max, you'll be accompanying the team for this mission. Your particular skill-set will prove useful in this matter."

Max and the rest of the teams eyes widened, "M-Me? Are you sure about that, I wouldn't wanna hold anyone back. I mean- I'd probably only get in the way."

"Don't sell yourself short. If you could hack into the leagues systems, and build that sophisticated AI, this should be rather easy for you. Besides, do you really want to miss this chance to speak with someone of Dr. Roquettes stature?"

Max looked conflicted, "Mmmm… You're right, I can't miss this chance. For all I know I'll never be able to talk to her again! What'll I do then? I'll have regretted not taking this chance and hate myself for it. Perhaps while I'm there, I'll show her my blueprints or maybe even brainstorm with her! Imagine the things we could come up with together, it would be an honor!" His words came out progressively faster with each sentence.

"Um, does he do this often?" Artemis asked broadly.

Miss. Martian giggled, "He can get a bit excited sometimes…" she thought back to the day he'd asked if she'd allow him to scan her brain.

Wally dashes over and slapped his brother on the shoulder, "You're rambling Max! This is your first ever mission, so you've got to make a good impression alright! You're a West!"

Max's eyes sparkled, he'd just realized now that he'd get to work with Wally! "Y-Yes! I'll do my very best!"

"That's the spirit!"

Kaldur smiled as he walked up to the siblings, "I'm glad you're being included Max. I'm sure your help here will be invaluable. Go get anything you might need from your lab now, we leave in 5 minutes."

Max nodded excitedly and ran off. This was it! This was his moment!

"So, is he not part of the team… or?" Artemis questioned.

"He's a nerd!" Robin joked, "He makes all our gadgets and things, really more of a support role. But there's some pretty cool stuff in his lab."

"He seems a bit young, you all don't have a specific guy for your personal stuff?" Artemis thought the kid was nice, but she didn't trust him enough to be making her gear.

"Max is quite young, but his workmanship is undoubtedly great. Upon team conception he gifted me with a new set of fully functional water bearers constructed entirely from carbon fiber, I don't know the mechanics behind it, but they haven't failed me yet."

"Isn't the team only like a month old?"

"... Touché."

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Max scurried through his lab, grabbing a few things he thought he might need. His laptop, with Aiva loaded onto it. A small grape sized metal ball, it was really just a compressed flash bomb. He created it for Robin, that way the boy wonder could have some more space in his utility belt. He called it a Solar Flare.

He grabbed a few other items, miscellaneous things that were entirely situational but he brought just in case those situations arrived.

He walked over to his main work desk, checking to make sure he had everything. God, he felt like an elementary schooler getting ready for his first day of school.

Off to the side he saw his nanites coddled nicely in 3 different plastic tubes. He hesitated for a second then reached out to them, Black Canary's words rang out in his mind.

"_There are some situations your big brain can't get you out of." _He vehemently denied the idea, his pride dictating him for a moment before doubt tickled his stomach. This was considered a pretty dangerous mission, and there was absolutely no way that he'd be able to fight a trained assassin. Much less one from the League of Shadows.

Max reached down and grabbed the receiver, strapping it to his head. He quickly went over to a small drawer he had and pulled out a plain beanie, placing it over his head and hiding the receiver. Mentally commanding, the nanomachines rolled out of their container and up his fingers, sliding under his sleeve.

Better safe than sorry, he reasoned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The team had gotten to the school lab in a manner befitting of a covert team. Fast, quiet, and undetected. Artemis was able to keep up just fine so far, it seemed her title as protege was well earned.

Just as Red Arrow had said, Dr. Roquette was hidden away. They'd been able to get her to calm down a bit by providing a password that Roy had given them.

Though to say she was disappointed would be an understatement. How come she got this bonafide superhero's bush league? was the Justice League understaffed or something?! And don't get her started on the kid they sent to 'help' her. That's right. KID! He was, young, excitable, and (a fanboy?) inexperienced!

Though she quickly revised her initial analysis on the young beanie wearing teen once he'd set his own computer up. He'd quickly pulled up a few of his own programs and asked her to show him where he should start for a countermeasure. Max, as he introduced himself as, may have tried to craft one all on his own, but he was wise enough to realize that she would understand her own creations weaknesses better than he would.

Once both scientists got properly set up, she gave Max a crash course on how her nanobots were made to function and what glaring weaknesses they had. Though she was quick to mention that they'd have _no _flaws had she had adequate time to finish and not essentially had a gun to her head.

Once properly informed, Max dove right into piecing together a proper virus in tandem with Roquette. Though she had the challenge of using a standard school level computer, she seemed to be progressing as fast as Max did.

While they did that, the rest of the team properly set up a perimeter. Miss. Martian and Superboy patrolled the outside of the school, making sure not a soul passed the gates.

Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Artemis stayed inside with the two programmers.

"_Miss. Martian, link us up_. _We can't risk having anyone intercepting our comm."_

The green girl heard his thoughts loud and clear. She did as instructed linking everyone's mind together, _"Of course. Everyone online?" _Her voice echoed throughout her intended targets head.

Artemis shuddered at the feeling of hearing a voice beside her own in her head. _"This-This feels SO weird!" _

Dr. Roquette did a much better job at holding her discomfort, _"Not to mention distracting. Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less ram than a wrist watch, is a challenge enough. Now I've gotta do it with teen-think in my skull? Give me a break!" _She clutched her head in frustration, the stress of the situation catching up to her.

Kid Flash groaned as he bit into his protein bar, _"Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?"_

Artemis chuckled out loud, _"Pot, Kettle. Have you met by chance?"_

"_Hey, Hey! I do not need attitude from the girl who drove Red Arrow off the team."_

Artemis seemed to recoil at the words, _"Woah, that is _so_ not_ _on me. Red Prick made it clear that he didn't want to join, even before me."_

"_Fate of the world, at stake here!" _The doctor shouted internally.

Max's eyebrow twitched in amusement, _"Maybe a bit of an overstatement, but the doctor isn't wrong. It's hard to concentrate with you guys bouncing around up here," _He gestured to his head, _"Miss. Martian, is there a way you could excluded myself and Roquette from the link while we work?" _

Miss. Martian gave a sound of affirmation and not a moment later both his and Serling's head were devoid of the team's voices. "Thank you!" Roquette said.

A few more gestures were exchanged between Artemis and Kid Flash before the green themed archer walked out of the room. There was clearly somewhere she could better be of use.

Once she walked out, Aqualad walked over to both Max and Roquette. "The virus won't be of much use if we can't find the weapon-"

"-It's not a weapon! It's science!" The woman butted in.

"-my point stands, can you track it?"

At this point Max spoke up as he was typing, "I had that same though. I've set Aiva to lock onto its signal and let me know when she finds it."

Roquette stopped her typing and flipped to the boy, "You idiot! Don't you realize if you can track them, they can track you?!"

Max scoffed and narrowed his eyes, "I'm surprised someone as 'brilliant' as you didn't think of it before. But I've been bouncing our IP around so that they can't track us properly. One moment we could be in Beijing, the next in Sydney."

Roquette blushed at that, she really was nearing her wits end if she didn't think of that. It was one of first things you learned as a hacker. Though, I'm her defense, she hadn't hacked maliciously since her teenage days. And even when she did, it wasn't against people who were willing to kill over it. "Ahm, I see then."

"That IP bouncing won't work forever though Aqualad. The moment we pinpoint the Fogs location, they may be able to pinpoint us too. If I was back at the cave and using my main computer I'd be a heck of a lot more equipped, but this laptop can only do so much. Even with Aivas assistance."

"And when that happens, you might as well rent a neon sign that says, 'assassinate me' and hang it from my neck." The doctor muttered.

Max sighed and put a hand on her arm, "It'll be alright. They'll protect you, have faith. I'll do my very best too, I've got a trump card if worst comes to worst."

Aqualad mimicked Max's action and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "He's right. We _will _protect you." He said it with such conviction that Max had wished he never spoke. The natural charisma the atlantean teen had was staggering.

"**Sir, I've found 'The Fog'. It's located in Philadelphia right now."**

Max looked over at Kaldur, who nodded. He sent a mental command to Ms. Martian, telling her to prepare the bioship for Robin and Superboy so that they may pursue. The boy wonder dashed out of the room and in under a minute, Max assumed that they'd be on the way to philly.

Now that the dangerous part had begun, Max noticed a shift in Aqualad and Kids behavior. It took a more serious nature, molding to fit the situation they were in.

Kid walked out of the room, likely to patrol the halls. It was smart having a two layers defense instead of one.

Aqualad stayed behind, protecting both Max and Roquette should anyone happen to bypass their security measures. As it would happen, someone did.

The door creaked, ever so slightly and the near silent sound of shuriken flying through the air caught Aqualads attention.

"Both of you, get down!" Aqualad dove forward, knocking down the initial shuriken.

Both woman and teen whipped their heads around, seeing a woman in green with a white cat mask.

The woman flung a flurry of shuriken at Roquette, but Max grabbed her pulled the woman to the floor. The projectiles embedded harmlessly into the screen the the doctor was using before hand.

Aqualad shot to his feet pulling his water bearers free, forming a pair of twin swords to combat the assassins twin sai.

"That must've hurt." The woman commented on Aqualad taking the initial blow for the doctor.

"Atlantean skin is quite dense."

"And my shuriken are quite poisoned." She countered before she lunged forward, striking with her sai. Aqualad was able to parry and make a swipe of his own, but hit only air.

"Aiva, secure the progress Roquette made and store it on a private server!" Max folded his laptop closed and and pulled the blonde under the large desk.

"**Done." **Aiva confirmed,

Max then drug Roquette out of the back of the hollow desk, and not a moment too soon, flipped it on its side. The computer crashed to floor along with the broken monitor, as the assassin threw one of her sais. It pierced the surface of it only just barely, and the bespectacled woman squealed in fright.

Max gulped when Aqualad was launched over the top of them and into the wall. Thinking quickly, he put his legs on the back of the desk and kicked it forward.

The suddenness of it, didn't catch the masked woman off guard and she easily jumped above it. What she didn't expect was a monitor to smash into her arms. It knocked her to her butt, yet it hardly stopped her.

It did however, buy Aqualad enough time to recover and clash blades with her once again. The two exchanged briefly before they caught themselves in a deadlock.

"Poison slowing you down?" She said teasingly.

Aqualad glared and put more pressure on his front foot, "Jellyfish toxin. I am largely immune." His forward pressure seemed to be just what the attacker wanted, and she responded with a nasty headbutt that knocked Kaldur onto his back.

"Hmph, largely." Before she could deliver a decisive blow, an arrow knocked a Sai from her hand. She held her wrist in pain before chuckling lowly.

The newly arrived Artemis stalked forward cautiously, arrow drawn and trained to the lone assassins form. "Don't. Move." She said forcefully.

"This is getting interesting." From seemingly nowhere she pulled a folded 4 plated blade that straightened into form.

Artemis shot a flurry of quick paced arrows at her, each one was met with inhuman reflex and cut down.

Max stood in front of Roquette, sweat running down his face. Was she really just a regular person like he was? No super speed, no super strength, or invulnerability. Just a regular old fleshy human?

While Artemis fires arrow after arrow, Kid Flash and Miss. Martian burst into the room. Seeing that they had the upper hand, the green themed archer simply lined up another shot and waited for any orders. Kaldur looked at her and nodded, surely sharing a mental conversation with the team.

"Maybe a little too interesting…" They heard the hostile mutter.

Artemis released her arrow. Her target easily deflected it, throwing a small smoke bomb onto the floor simultaneously. Just as she did so, Kid came barreling through the smoke, falling right into Artemis.

He quickly recovered and spun around with speed only a speedster could have, "Damn, she's gone!"

Now that the threat was visibly gone, Max slumped and breathed a bit easier. He hadn't realized how tense he had been before now.

"She's getting away! You're letting her get away?!"

"This is all your fault!" Wally shouted, pointing his finger at Artemis, "You were on perimeter, how did a shadow get in?!"

Artemis only narrowed her eyes in response, but Miss. Martian stepped forward. "That's not really fair… I was outside too."

"Yea, being distracted by her!" The speedster said stubbornly, "Besides, I can't be mad at you! _You gave me mouth to mouth…" _He whispered that last sentence in his mind, momentarily forgetting that everyone could hear his thoughts.

"Focus everyone. The shadows _will _be back."

"**Robin to Aqualad! We're over Philadelphia and we've located the Shadows target. It was Star Labs, we were too late… It's completely destroyed."**

Max's eyes widened as he heard that over the team radios. Star labs was filled with cutting edge science, things that could power the future. Now all of that was in the enemies hands, and who knew what kind of atrocities they could do with that kind of tech.

Aqualad remained calm, but ordered the team with a sense of urgency, "Rescan for that fog. We're moving the doctor."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Both Max and Roquette had been successfully relocated to a local Internet cafe. Kaldur had come up with a rather clever plan to pull a fast one over on the docs would be killer. Megan would shapeshift into the doc and pose as her, luring the villains away.

Though they were relatively close, it should still be enough of a distance to serve the purpose. Kaldur had dutifully watched the door after the first step of his plan had succeeded.

"We've almost got it!" Max exclaimed, his quick thinking was able to save both his and Roquettes progress on the virus. Without it, they'd have to start all over, something they didn't have time to do.

Aqualads eyes darted around the room as he heard the soft patter of feet. "We've got company!"

"Uploading now!" The doctor said, "And by the way, you said you'd protect me!"

The atlantean turned around as a small marble like pellet bounced into the room. It burst and let out plume after plume of smoke. Kaldur drew his water bearers in the same fashion he did earlier. He stepped protectively in front of the doctor, ready for even the slightest movement to dart out of the smoke screen.

It was too late, by the time he realized it was a diversion. A familiar whizzing sound caught his ear and he reacted a touch too sluggishly. A trio of darts embedded into his chest and a figure dropped from the air vents.

It was the same cat assassin from before, "I hate being played… Lets test the limit of your jellyfish immunity, shall we?" She said it vindictively.

Kaldur shook his head off and dashed, or he would've had the assassin not taken the initiative. Their initial clash was rough, and seemed to knock the water user off balance. Seeing a rather good opportunity, she lashed out with her left arm and made to slice Dr. Roquettes throat open.

Max noticed the movement and before the glaring blade could touch even a flake of skin, he wrapped his arms around the doctors chest. He yanked her back with him and they fell to the floor, he rolled with the momentum, putting Roquette underneath him.

"You just grabbed my boob pervert!" Her shout was muffled and Max had the decency to blush. It certainly wasn't his intention but he wouldn't say that it was an unwelcome mistake.

"Sorry, consider it compensation for still breathing." He pulled her up and moved behind a counter, where the cashier typically would stand. He had to move both himself and the doc. They'd only serve to get in Kaldurs way at this point.

"That's not how being a hero works, you guys don't take rewards… Do you?"

Max groaned as he lowered both of them safely behind the countertop. Serling Roquette, the doctor, was someone who he admired. Serling Roquette, the person, was someone he was beginning to get annoyed with.

Now that she had stopped talking, Max noticed how quite it was. "Limit tested." He heard the lady assassin say.

"_Oh shit, did Kaldur lose?!"_

"I think it's time for my appointment, Doctor." Both Max's and Serling's eyes widened and their heads snapped up. Crouched on the counter, was no other than their personal assassin.

The cat themed girl brandished her sai and stabbed it down, ready to plunge it through her targets skull, brain, even tongue if she put enough strength into it.

Max's pupils shrunk in concentration. His hand darted out, and the nanobots he'd had on his body raced down his arm forming the very same glove he'd made a couple of nights prior.

"She's not that kind of Doctor!"

All parties involved were caught off guard when the sai sparked and deflected off the shiny red glove. Using the moment, Max grabbed Roquette and ran around the counter.

He just barely managed to cross the threshold when a kick to the back of the head sent him, and by proxy Roquette, to the floor. He rolled along the floor, shooting to his feet using the momentum, and making sure that he didn't get stabbed, Max pulled the small pellet sized flash bomb he brought with him.

"Close your eyes!" He shouted at the doctor. He tossed the device at the green clothes attacker and shut his eyes as tightly as he could.

The woman reacted quick enough to slap the pellet away but as her blade made contact it erupted into a flash of light that was so bright it almost burned.

"My mask has auto reactive lenses. Nice try kid."

Max opened his eyes but almost squealed when the assailant didn't even seem to slow down. He reacted quickly and threw a punch, it was sloppy. Easy enough for someone like her to counter.

The masked woman parried and grabbed tightly onto Max's forearm, just under where the nanites formed his glove. She brought it close to her face in examination, "Everyone's a hero these days… I gotta admit though-" She was forced to swallow her words when the nanites on the back of his hands formed a sharp point and shot out at her. Acrobatically she back flipped away, successfully saving her mask, and face, from being pierced. "-that's interesting."

"Thanks. I-it's homemade." Max stepped back, protectively in front of Dr. Roquette. Now that he was close enough to her, the nanorobotics expert could see the teen was shaking. He may have come with these heroes, but she was made aware that he was not the same as them. He did not have the same composure or battle sense they had, he was painfully _average_ in that sense. No matter how quick witted he was or whatever gimmicks he had, she knew they were fighting a losing battle.

Roquette glance over at her former computer screen, the virus was just above 50% uploaded and it was making remarkable progress. At least she'd have comfort in that she was able to stop the Fog. "Don't… Don't worry. I'll protect you." He words weren't as assuring or confident as Aqualads were.

"Oh, you're ganna protect her? You can't even protect yourself!" The assassin flung her last sai, directly for the heart of Roquette. Max waved his arm out and deflected the blade with the glove on his hand. He never realized that he was the real target.

So focused on deflecting the blade he didn't see when his opponent rushed, not until the fist crashed into the side of his head. The blow was so heavy the it knocked him down, smashing the other side of his head against a desk on his way to the floor. The impact forced his beanie and the receiver to fall of his head. With the receiver gone, the nanites fell from his hand uselessly.

"You may be a good little scientist boy, but you're no hero. Not even close."

Max's vision swirled and his body felt dizzy. He wanted to stand, but every time he tried it felt like the world flipped over.

"Now doctor, no more running." The woman pulled her collapsed blade out and raised it up, prepared to finally complete her job. Only problem was, the insistent alarm that rang from the computer. The woman turned and scoffed at the contents, seemingly relaxing her stiff posture. "You've completed the virus. Thus eliminating the reason for your elimination. Though it could be entertaining…" she pressed the tip of her blade against Roquettes cheek and the woman whimpered, "Lucky for you, my orders are clear. You live to program another day."

Max groaned as he finally stood to his feet, still on shaky knees, "You-You can't just leave here. I-I can't l-let you…"

The woman laughed behind her mask, "And you, don't go trying to fulfil roles you're not meant to. You're no hero. Next time you wanna play, you may find yourself against someone with less restraint. I'd hate to see you bite off more than you could chew. After all, the shadows may still have use for you… _both_ of you."

Max looked to the floor in disappointment as the woman passed by him. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be more than the little science geek he knew himself to be. But it was painfully obvious that he wasn't meant for it. Not yet at least. Tonight proved it.

He had no superpowers. He didn't have the martial prowess or the acrobatic skill set, like Robin. He didn't have the goddess like aim that Artemis seemed to have with her bow. He couldn't compare to even the humans on this team.

The boy shook his head off, the cobwebs and shakiness leaving his body. He had to help Kaldur, first and foremost. He may have had a high resilience to jellyfish toxin, but he wasn't immune and he had taken enough to put an elephant down.

Max shuffled around in his pockets and pulled out a strange injector, not dissimilar to an epipen. He stabbed it into Kaldur's neck and he woke with a gasp.

"What was that?" Kaldur spoke, as he tried to stand.

"It was a shot of biostimulants. It's got synthetic DNA in it to help jumpstart the immune system, and theoretically, physical attributes for a small time. I brought one for each member of the team. Since you guys don't all share human dna, I have separate ones for you, Miss Martian, and Superboy."

Kaldur nodded in understanding, wobbling slightly as he stood straight. "So it's a fast acting steroid?" Max and Roquette put an arm of his around each of their shoulders

Max mulled it over and nodded, "Well, that's not wrong."

"Amazing…" Roquette muttered. It wasn't an instant antidote, that was obvious. But given that Aqualad, who'd taken tankards of toxins into his body, was already in his feet showed that it was still extremely effective. Not to mention, most likely beyond anything that could be found in a hospital.

The trio were taken by surprise when the ground shook beneath them and the vibration of an explosion shattered the large window at the front of the cafe. "We must get out there!"

"You're still injured Kal-Aqualad! You won't be in any condition to help."

"Go!" He spoke commandingly, ignoring Max's near slip. The two complied and walked out onto the sidewalk. Max instantly sighed in relief when he saw a familiar face.

"I know we just met and all, but I've never been more happy to see you Artemis."

"Artemis, where is the assassin."

The blonde heroine looked to the side and rubbed her arm, "She got away." It was at the exact moment that Kid Flash and Miss. Martian arrived on the seen.

"Oh, no way! From you?" Kid said sarcastically, "I don't believe it! Notice, we got ours."

"Knock it off Kid. She completed the mission that was given, protect the doctor." Max defended.

Wally rolled his eyes and picked up the discarded mask, "Oh, cool! Souvenir!"

Kaldur walked off the support that Max and the doctor provided, approaching Wally, "Her mask? Did you see her face?"

"It was dark." She faced away from the group, like she was trying to hide from them.

Max walked up and tried to comfort her, "That's alright, night vision isn't a common trait for humans to have." He joked, but it didn't really do anything, "Besides, Robin and Superboy were able to neutralize the fog. Plus Dr. Roquette is safe and out shadow hands. I don't think things would've gone so well without you."

Artemis spared the younger teen a glance, "He's right, we succeeded tonight. Thanks, in no small part, to you."Aqualad added. Artemis finally turned to face them all, "Welcome to the team." Kaldur said with a small smile.

Artemis smiled back and shook hands with Kaldur as Megan flew over to her side, "I've always wanted a sister, here on earth I mean." The Martian spoke, "I've got 12 back on Mars, but it's _so _not that same." She elaborated.

"I, I wouldn't know… But thanks." Artemis replied.

Kid Flash walked up silently, and Artemis looked on expectantly. The speedster was as dense as always and only spoke when Miss. Martian fed a sharp elbow to his rib, "Ow!" He sighed and spoke halfheartedly, "Yea, welcome."

It wasn't a festive welcoming, but she didn't really expect it from The Wallman.

"I'm glad you've officially been inducted! I think you'll fit in just fine here, I've got tons of ideas for arrows too! What would you say if I could make you arrows that turn?" Max spoke.

Artemis looked slightly uncomfortable, and yet oddly, she wasn't. "Umm… Cool?" She felt like she finally found somewhere she belonged.

"Great!"

**Boom shakalaka!**

**That's that for this chapter. I hope you guys aren't too disappointed with Max's roll here. I needed a way to really motivate him to be strong. Ambition all by itself isn't enough of a reason for me. The experience of having been so easily handled will help push Max in the direction he needs to go to fully commit himself to making himself hero ready. Though he's not quite there yet, this was a big development for him. **

**Next chapter we see our main hit the streets with the team to find Kent, which should be pretty interesting in itself. Given his rather lackluster combat performance, will Wally trust his brother enough to bring him on another mission? Maybe, maybe not. **

**Also, just something that i wanted to share. I had a perfect route planned out for this story, with very clear scenes envisioned. But recently, I re-watched Captain America: Civil War and it seriously made me consider going a new route. One that may even be more exciting and interesting to write. So I may or may not begin some minor set up for future events. Now that may mean some behavioral changes for some characters, it could come off as uncharacteristic. I want to implement some drama without it seeming like I'm character bashing, so consider this a fair warning to you all. I do want to assure you though, I have NO character that I dislike on this show. It's all for story progression! **

**Moving on, I am genuinely conflicted about Kent Nelson. I want to keep him alive, because I don't really want to see him die. But I still want to make the events at the tower of Fate meaningful for Wally. Ah well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. That's the cool thing about writing DC or Marvel based fanfics, there's literally infinite continuities so anything I write can be plausible as long as it sounds reasonable. **

**That's about it for my rambling, y'all know the drill. Fav, follow, review, and all that good stuff. Or do none, that's cool too I guess. **

**Peace!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright BOIS, and girls (if you're reading). Here's the next chapter, hopes it's enjoyable. **

**As always, there's a few notes at the bottom just so you guys can see where I'm at. Nothing too important, but still relevant to the story. So if you care to, take a look at them and don't be afraid to share thoughts via reviews or pm. **

**Disclaimer: All characters go to their respective owners!**

Key:  
"Speaking"  
_"Thought or telepathic convos"  
_**"Automated speech or comms"**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been about 10 days or so since Artemis joined the team. She'd done well to make quick friends with both Megan and Max. Though she was a bit put off by the young genius at first. He was as socially awkward as one could imagine, constantly caught in muttering of his thoughts and enthusiastically trying to help. Sometimes over enthusiastically.

But the new heroine guessed that he was just out of his element, all of them were. But at least they all had common ground in the fact that they were sidekicks- heroes. He was just 'tech support', he didn't fit in with them, in a traditional sense. Though he did seem to get along just fine with everyone. He even dared to tease Superboy, which Artemis did enjoy to watch.

The archer did, however, notice that the small genius spent a remarkable amount of time training his hand to hand.

She didn't know it, no one really knew it, but the run in with 'Cheshire', as the cat themed assassin had been dubbed, rattled him. Black Canary's words haunted him along with the memories.

He was totally useless, save for a minor distraction. Even then, Max realized that nothing he did actually favored a victory. Cheshire spared them because her objective held no purpose anymore, she spared him on her whim. He lived only because, _she felt like it_.

The thought frightened him and so he reconsidered his stance on attending the combat lessons Canary offered. Even going as far as to having Aiva look up various fighting styles and teach, if that were the right word, them to him. Really it was just her explaining movements and theory about the arts. Max was intellectually gifted enough to understand and apply them, though physically he was unable to actually use them

That's why he currently found himself going toe to toe with none other than Superboy. It'd had become fairly common a sight at this point. Though the opponent wasn't always Superboy, sometimes Kaldur, Robin, or even Wally.

Since power usage was normally off limits in these little sessions, he found himself relatively equal to Wally, given the elder sibling relied so much on his speed he was rather lacking in the martial department. The real divider between the two was Wally's experience in combat.

Wally was really the only one he had any chance at beating, Robin and Kaldur were simply too competent in pure unarmed combat for him to hope to be a match. And Superboy, even though powers weren't allowed, was still much too strong.

"**Initiate combat sequence."** The computerized voice of the caves built in system said. The young genius was still in the process of persuading Batman to let him upload Aiva to the caves mainframe and take over. Not that the system that was already there would be terminated, it just would have a much smaller role.

The brown haired teen ducked a hook and scooted back a bit when Superboy tried to grab him. That was probably worst case scenario, fight ended the moment the kryptonian got a hold of him. There was no way he'd get out of that grip.

He didn't just evade though. Max lifted his lead leg up and kicked at his opponents mid section. He knew it was a mistake the moment his foot left the ground. He nearly dropped to his butt in pain but settled for a grimace and made some space.

"Invulnerable body, remember? I don't know why you always wanna do this, you can't _really_ do any damage to me. No offense, but you just aren't physically strong enough." Superboy said

Max sighed and then smirked, "I know." Suddenly the shoes he had on his right foot transformed and folded up to mid shin and a sleek but powerful boot. This wasn't his nanotech, he wanted to keep that a secret for now and surprise everyone when he finished. They'd be shocked when they found out he could go on missions with them!

"They're made from some sample space metals I got from Batman. I was only supposed to analyze them, but don't tell him that. They're both ultra light and ultra strong."

Superboy shrugged, "You should've made em' for your hands."

"He's right Max, you seem to favor you hands more than your feet. Perhaps this can be of use for further models?" Kaldur who spectated on the side spoke up as well.

Max opened his mouth to retort before he closed it. He clicked his tongue, they were right! "They were for… Wally! Yea, I made these for him! I'm just testing them out, you know science and stuff."

"Smooth move genius." Artemis teased next to Megan. Both blond and green skinned girl giggled, while Max blushed in embarrassment. Wally, wasn't paying attention, too absorbed in his burrito.

"Can we start again already?" Superboy complained.

In a burst of speed that surprised him, the genetic clone of Superman found Max's fist inches from his face. He could've stood there and tanked it, but out of reflex he leaned his head out of the way.

That was just as Max wanted though and he brought his leg up as Superboy leaned down. On the side of his metal boots, small thrusters lit up bright and boosted his leg faster and harder than he could ever hope to throw. It connected strongly, but Superboy was able to absorb the blow mostly unharmed.

"That was a good hit."

"Thanks…?" Max backed up and had to circle around as his housemate pushed forward with a controlled flurry of punches. This was a mistake. With these boots on he was unable to counter, his upper body just not strong enough to do anything. They did, however boost his speed.

Off with Artemis and Megan, they had a little bit of girl talk. "Kaldurs, uh nice, don't you think? He's handsome, commanding. What's not to like? You should totally ask him out!"

Megan giggled amidst the background grunting of Superboy trying to hit Max.

"Always the running with you!" He was sounding frustrated.

"Well, it's hit and not get hit. Remember?"

Megan clapped her hands together lightly, "Kaldur's like a big brother to me. But you know who would make the _cutest _couple…?" She countered Artemis' suggestion. "You and Wally!"

Back on the sparring grounds, Max nearly stumbled over his feet, _"Her and Wally?!" _

Superboy pounced and grabbed a hold of Max's shirt and smiled, "Hit and don't get hit, was it?"

Max kicked up but Superboy caught it and used the momentum to turn them and throw Max. The boy tumbled and landed next to the girls flat, who were laughing amongst themselves, on his back.

"**Combat Fail." **

"Um, hi ladies." He didn't say anything about the fact that he could see up Megan's skirt for the simple fact that he didn't want to give anyone the wrong idea. Last thing he wanted was for everyone to think he was a pervert.

"Black Canary taught me that one." Superboy said with a smile.

"I'm sure she did…" Max sat up and tried to stand, but fell back down when his ankle didn't bend properly. Looking down he gasped and cried out. Around the ankle of his armor was a distinct hand mark. The metal warped and wiring stuck out where it shouldn't. "You used super strength! That's cheating!"

"You're the one that broke out the super boots. Not fair for you to complain." Artemis said as she pat Max's back.

"Artemis, they aren't boots! They're-"

"Boots?"

The boy sighed, he had failed to come up with a proper name for them, so this may have been his fault. He pressed a button on the sides of the boots and the retracted back into the shoes he wore. One of them had a bit of trouble creaking and scraping as the folded back into place.

A small circular section above the room opened above them and out from it came their very own den mother.

Wally immediately sped over, "Do you have a mission for us?" He said excitedly.

Tornado turned robotically, "Missions are The Batman's responsibility."

Wally rolled his eyes and responded, "Well _the Batman _is with _the Robin _doing the whole dynamic duo thing." He sighed before smiling at Tornado, "But you're going to do something riiight? A hot date? Or maybe, a _mission_?" Wally shot the robot the finger guns and rose his eyebrows provocatively.

"If we can be of help…" Kaldur commented on the side.

Red Tornado turned on his heel on pulled up a large projection of an elderly man, "This is Kent Nelson, a friend. He is 106 years old."

"Doesn't look a day over 90." Wally joked.

"He has been missing for 23 days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society. The predecessor to your mentors Justice League." Tornado cycles over another picture, depicting a man with blue clothing and ornate golden armor.

Kaldur's eyes widened, "Of course! Kent was earth's Sorcerer Supreme! He was Dr. Fate!" It was rare to see Kaldur so excited.

Wally scoffed and whisper over to Artemis, "More like Dr. Fake. Guy knows a little advanced science and dumbledores it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes."

Artemis rolled her eyes and Max chuckled, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, that may be true. But who's to say that it's actually technology at work and not something mystical? I don't think anything Zatara does can be achieved with just technology. Let's keep an open mind."

"Yea, but remember Abra Kadabra? Total fake!"

"One bad apple doesn't make the bunch does it?"

Red Tornado spoke over them, gaining their attention, "Kent may simply be on one of his walkabouts, but he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the doctors mystic might. It is unwise to leave such power unguarded."

Megan seemed enthralled by the information of earth's very own sorcerer supreme. "He likes the great sorcerer priests and priestess' of Mars! I would be honored to help find him!" She never imagined humans were so similar to martians.

At the sound of Megan, Wally near instantaneously changed his tune. "Me too! So honored I can barely stand it. Magic rocks!" The speedster folded his fingers into the rock symbol and smiled at the green skinned girl.

Max and Artemis shared a look. Max chuckled and Artemis groaned.

"Here, take this." Red handed Kaldur a strange key of sorts. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate. You cannot enter without it."

Wally dashed next to Megan and place a hand on her shoulder, "What are the chances we both _so_ admire the mystic arts?"

Max stepped forward to Kaldur and Red Tornado. "Um, if it's alright with the both of you… I'd like to accompany the team on this mission. I-I can't help but be curious. The thought of magic intrigues me."

Kaldur thought on it a moment before he opened his mouth, "I don't see why-"

"No way! After what happened last mission? It's too dangerous for you to go out with the team." Wally declined his little brothers request.

"But I-"

"No. Just stay here Max. If something ended up happening and we had to fight, you wouldn't be able to protect yourself. You'd just end up in the way." Ouch. It came out way harsher than he intended it to, and Wally internally winced as he saw the boy look down. But even so, he meant what he said.

Max knew his older brother was right. No matter how much he'd trained in these past days, it simply wasn't enough to have made a real difference. Sure he was noticeably better, but still leaps and bounds from where he needed to be to properly defend himself against real villains.

"There's no need to be so harsh Wally." Artemis defended, "He's your brother, why don't you have a little faith? Besides, it's just a search mission, no combat necessary. I vote, he comes along."

"Um, I agree with Wally…" Surprisingly it was Megan who voiced this. "Not that I think you'd be in the way Max! It's just, things like this can go south fast, I don't want anything to happen to you is all…" Max frowned at the martians words. He'd thought that they'd grown pretty close in the time they'd spent together here.

Artemis, Wally, and Megan all looked to Superboy who looked confused at their gaze, "What?"

"Do you have a vote?" Megan asked, her eyes pleading that he agree with her.

The clone shrugged and looked away, "If he wants to come, let him come. I don't see what the big deal is." He said curtly and walked away. He needed to change into something that wasn't slick with sweat.

Megan sighed and the other turned their eyes to Kaldur for a tie breaker. The atlantean sighed, "Max, I don't think you are a burden in any way, shape, or form. I want you to know that. But it _is _true that should a villain show up, you may find it more than challenging to stand up to them. I need you to know, that even a simple search and rescue like this can turn sour. With all that said, do you still want to come with us?"

Max swallowed and nodded. He knew the dangers and understood the consequences that could befall him. He'd weighed them in his mind for years, though when he did he was a hero. Not a scientist. "Y-Yes!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Wally, when did you first realize your 'honest' affinity for the mystic arts?" Artemis sarcastically questioned. The team had take off by now and were already nearly to the drop point. Max sat off a bit to the side, he felt a bit awkward actually being here.

"Well, I'm not one to brag. But before I became Kid Flash, I seriously considered becoming a wizard." Artemis scoffed but fell short on her questioning as they came up on their destination.

"There's nothing here?" Superboy questioned as he and the others stepped out of the bioship.

Max looked around his eyes observing everything around them, "How strange…"

Kaldur had Wally run a quick perimeter, just to see if maybe there was something they were all missing. He was back within seconds, "Nope, nothing at all. This isn't simple camouflage..."

"So what do you think, adaptive micro opto-electronics combined with matter phase shifting?" Artemis snarked

"I don't think so, matter phase shifters are incredibly complex to make, and expensive too. I doubt someone could make a device large enough to cover a whole tower. Not to mention the power it'd take to keep such a large piece of tech running. We'd have seen a massive power output from Megan's bioship scanners already." Max put down the theory before Wally could happily agree.

"Ahm! Clearly mystic powers at work here." Megan smiled at Wally and continued to look around.

Max did too, sticking next to Artemis while he thought to himself. His neurons firing in thought, faster than what even a 'regular' genius could comprehend.

"So, what do you really think it is? Are you actually curious about magic or just set on proving it wrong?"

"Prove it wrong? Not at all. Wally would like to believe that everything can be achieved through science. That everything has a clean and clear cut explanation. That's the rule he lives by. I, however, live by a different rule."

"And that is?"

"That there's an exception to every rule. So if everything can be explained by science, then magic is surely the exception, no?"

Artemis thought about it for a moment, she was by no means dumb. She was actually pretty smart, but Max was a complicated individual. His mind worked in ways she couldn't hope to comprehend and so did his personality. One minute he was confident and snarky, another he was timid and reserved, the next he was cool and collected. The young man operated on a multitude of sudden wave lengths that she barely kept up with. She would've thought he was bipolar if she didn't know he wasn't under a different kind of pressure than most normal kids.

"Sounds… complicated? No, I still don't understand your point."

Max smiled, he didn't expect the arrow themed hero to get the philosophy behind him. He decided he'd tell her nonetheless though, simply because he felt like it.

Max heard Kaldur mumble something, before asking everyone to step back. The dark skinned teen inserted the golden key Tornado had given him into what looked like thin air and twisted. With an echoing click a large brick tower revealed itself.

"Amazing." Max spoke in awe. He walked in as the doors opened for them and snapped his head back when the doors slammed shut, "Hey! The doors gone!" He exclaimed.

Superboy turned around too and knocked on where the door was before, "He's right, it doesn't even sound hollow here when I knock. It's solid stone."

Every one collectively jumped when a gold projection of Kent Nelson materialized in front of them. "Greetings. You've entered with a key, but the tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent." It said both commandingly, yet cordially.

Wally smiled back at Megan and stepped forward dramatically, "We are _true _believers, here to find Dr. Fate!" Wally was always one for extravagance. The projection frowned in displeasure before before fading away.

As it did so, the floor creaked eerily. Max took a single step back and the entire floor collapsed beneath the six of them and a scalding temperature burned their skin.

Realizing that he was falling towards a pool of red hot lava, Max's stomach whirled. In his infinite wisdom he'd decided that he didn't need to bring any of his little gadgets or even his nanotech. After all, what could go wrong? He should've known better than to tempt Murphy's law.

Luckily Max was more on the edge of the hole so he was able to grab a piece of rock strong enough to hold him up before he gained too much momentum.

Artemis was smart enough to bring a compact crossbow and fired something similar to a grappling hook. She swung to a nearby wall, grabbing Kaldur as she did so.

Megan was able to grab a hold of Wally, only just barely, and Superboy clawed his fingers into the walls as he slid down.

"ARGH!" The clone shouted as his feet dipped into the lava. Max winced at the tone, "Those were my favorite boots!" Oh right, invulnerable.

The others were lower than him, but even from his elevated height, Max felt like he was inhaling flames. He could only imagine what it was like for the others, let alone for Megan and Kaldur.

"My physiology, and M'Gann's, are susceptible to extreme heat! We must climb out of here quickly!"

"Artemis! If you can hang on to a foot hold or something a moment, I can latch your hook into the edge of the hole! Just toss-!" Without warning the rock Max held onto shifted. His weight was too much to hold and it, along with him, dislodged from safety.

A sensation of weightlessness made his stomach flip. "MAX!" Wally shouted.

"I can't catch him without falling into the lava too!" Megan cried. Artemis wasn't in any position to make a dive for the younger boy, her hook couldn't hold more than what she had with her now. They'd all plummet to their death. And by the time he made it to Superboy he'd be ankle deep in gooey lava.

Time almost seemed to stop for Max as his thoughts ran a mile a minute. There had to be a way to fix this. It couldn't be such a dead end right?

Like a light switch flipping, he realized. They never truly answered the question! Wally had boasted to about being a true believer and then the floor collapsed! But, could it really be just that? The teen didn't have time to question his conclusion. It was either take the chance or die quietly.

"We're friends! Red Tornado sent us to see if Kent Nelson and the Helmet of Fate were safe!" The teen squeezed his eyes shut as his body gained momentum. He expect to feel unbearable heat, the fiery embrace of death by burning.

He was pleasantly surprised though when instead of having his bones smelted into liquid, his back smashed against a metal hatch and his head whipped back harshly with it. The impact created a dull ringing in his ears as he sat up in shock.

It worked!

He heard similar thudding noises as everyone dropped to the new platform. "This platform should be red-hot, and yet it is cool to the touch!"

Max wanted to say something while he waited for the throbbing in his head to clear, but he was cut off when Wally roughly grabbed his shoulders. "Max! You see, I told you it was too dangerous for you here! You almost died here, and would have brought us with you!"

Max opened and shut his mouth, Wally wasn't wrong. He was headed straight for him and Megan, it was a miracle that the Martian girl was either able to dodge in such a weak state or he simply missed them. He could've literally been in their way. "I-I'm- I wasn't try-"

Artemis had had about enough of Wally though. She pushed him roughly and glared at him, "This is _not_ his fault, it's _yours_! Max saved us from your little 'impress Megan at all costs' game, which nearly got us ALL barbequed!"

"So it's _my _fault the so called, sorcerer supreme decided to drop us on a vat of hot lava instead of talking things out?"

"Uh, Yea! Maybe if you hadn't _lied _to that, whatever it was, and called yourself a 'true believer' we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Megan looked surprised, "Wally, you don't believe?"

The speedster groaned and waved his arms, "Alright, FINE! I don't believe in Magic, I lied! But magic is the real lie, a huge load!"

Kaldur looked on in disapproval, "Wally, I studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis. The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water bearers." The leader tried to reason.

"Dude, ever heard of bioelectricity?" Wally countered. "You know, way back when, fire used to be considered magic too. But now we know better. It's _science_."

"You're pretty close minded for a guy that can break the sound barrier in his sneakers!"

"Again, science! I replicated the experiment that gave Flash his powers and here I am. Everything can be explained with science."

"Shall we test that theory?" Kaldur challenged as his hand reached for a hatch in the vault door.

Wally looked panicked as his teammate began to pull up, "Wait! The backdraft from the lava will roast us alive!"

With a strong tug, the hatch was lifted. Instead of the skin melting heat Wally expected, he received the sting of freezing cold air.

Countless small snowflakes filled the hole they were in, "Its snow!" Megan spoke excitedly.

"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Artemis said smugly.

The team dropped through the hatch, Max following behind quietly too afraid of causing something to go wrong to be at the front. The sensation of falling through the magical door was strange. They clearly fell downward, and yet upon crossing the threshold the doorway was vertical instead of horizontal.

Max shivered as he regained his footing, he was dressed slightly warm but still unsuitable for the snowy mountains they ended up in. Just ahead, the young West could hear Wally and Artemis bickering.

He decided to keep his words to himself, instead searching for anything that could help the group find their target, _"Hey… is that a cane?" _Seeing a chance to redeem himself, Max trudged through the snow.

A smile broke out on his face, maybe Wally wouldn't be mad anymore now that he found a key piece of the puzzle! "Hey guys, look what I found!" He grabbed it and picked it up, holding it to the others.

Wally sped over immediately, "Stop grabbing stuff!" He tried to steal it from Max's hand

Artemis followed and grab ahold as well, "Stop telling him what to do!"

Wally glared at her and then to Max who looked away, "Let it go Max!" The cane suddenly began to glow and Max tried to pull away, only to find he was unable to, "Hurry up and let go!"

"I-I can't!"

"Me neither!" Artemis cried. The trio shouted in surprise as the cane lifted the three high into the sky and bathed them in a golden light.

When the light died down, Max and company found themselves in a puzzle of stairs. Much like the painting of relativity.

"Well would you look at that…" An aged voice said, drawing the newcomers attention.

"Abra Kadabra!" Wally shouted. Max recognized the fake magician, but his companion was unknown. A seemingly young man with an orange cat.

The old man glew the same gold that the cane did and floated over to them. Only when he took the cane into his hands, could Wally, Artemis, and Max let go.

"In here." He said hurriedly. Magically, an elevator door opened on the door adjacent to them. The teens rushed in, the old man not far behind.

"No, no, NO! I want that helmet!" The young man in the suit held his hands up, but the the elevator doors closed shut before he could do anything.

Max felt the elevator shift before it began to lift. The ride was awkward to say the least, corny music and near absolute silence. At least until the the old man decided that he ought to introduce himself, "Oh, I'm Kent Nelson by the way."

"Really? Couldn't have guessed… ow!" Artemis elbowed The speedster.

"I'm Artemis. Miss Manners here is Wally."

"And I'm Max…!" The genius said in a mixture of shyness and excitement. Shy because he didn't want to be scolded by Wally yet again, excited because he had earths sorcerer supreme in front of him. There were so many questions he wanted to ask.

Was he really using magic? Could such energy by quantified and recorded? Did it even give off a signature? Was there a secret society of mages? Did magic have its own laws, similar to the laws of physics? Was it a finite source of energy that each user drew from, or was it unique to each individual.

There was so much he wanted to know, he felt like he was ganna explode. "Well, Artemis. Max. We're up against an opponent with tremendous mystic power.." Kent said gravely.

Wally scoffed, "Abra Kadabra? Flash proved he uses futuristic tech to simulate magic. Dudes all show and no biz."

"Right you are, young man! Kadabra is a charlatan, but Klarion the Witchboy, is an actual lord of chaos."

"I assume he's the kid with the cat right?"

"Correct again! He's the ultimate enemy of a lord of order, like Dr. Fate."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Right, you're a lord of order…"

Kent simply smiled at the young man's words, "Oh no, not me. I'm just an old coot Fate used to put on. At least, until my wife Inza convinced me there could be more to life. She was a real pistol, that Inza…" the old man popped open a pocket watch reminiscing in the memories of old. "Anywho, if Klarion gets his sticky little fingers on the helmet, he'll turn the world into his own personal playground of pandemonium."

"Sounds like we have to protect the helmet then-"

"No, _we, _have to protect the helmet! Not you." Max ignored his brothers outburst and continued with his line of thought.

"-But I'm curious. If you said Fate, 'wears you', does that mean he doesn't exist on this plane?"

Kent looked surprised at the deduction, "Hmm, that's right. Lords of order can't exist in this dimension without a medium, Fates is the helmet."

Max nodded in understanding, "I see. If that's true than the same thing could be said for Klarion right? Considering he a lord of chaos he must be bound by the same rules, meaning, he must have a medium as well."

Artemis took her chance to inject herself into the conversation, "What are you getting at?"

"Well, if he's got a medium, then all we have to do is disrupt it right? Unless Klarion is the exception, then surely if we disturb his means of staying here he will be unable to keep his form." Max explained.

Kent smiled brightly, not even he had thought of that. He was too concerned with the potential fight he'd have with The Witchboy. "Brilliant! You've got a sharp mind boy! I can assure you, Klarion is no such exception. His medium is the cat, attack it and he _will _be unable to keep from here. Though be warned, it is no simple cat."

The elevator dinged, letting its occupants know that they arrived at their destination. The doors opened and Max could see no true differences to the maze they were in before. Well, other than the large golden bell in the center of everything.

They group walked over to the bell. As they came closer though, the rest of the team fell through an opening, conveniently right in front of them.

Artemis looked relieved to see them, and ran over to fill them in on the situation. "Friends of yours?" Kent asked.

Before Wally could retort, they were forced to dodge as a surge of electricity zapped overhead. The three guys hit the deck, successfully dodging their potential taze.

"Friends of yours?!" Wally asked sarcastically.

Abra Kadabra shot another bolt at them and they rolled. The fake then shot a bolt at the rest of the team, forcing a split between them.

Kent rose to his feet along with Max and Wally, right next to the large bell. He grabbed his cane and tapped it against said bell, the item beginning to glow with mystic power. Max was startled when Kent seemed to walk _into _the bell and hastily followed.

On the other side he saw nothing but the open night sky, _"We're on the roof?" _A glint of gold caught his eye, _"And the helmet of fate!"_

Kent reached out for the helmet, no doubt to wear it once again.

"You're a spry old coot!" Klarion had followed them. The lord of chaos shot a powerful red energy at Kent, he was much too old to be able to dodge it. The once mighty sorcerer caught the blast on the body and fell back into Wally in pain.

"Mr. Nelson!" He shouted. Nelson recovered as much as he could and stood. He recited something in a language that neither Max nor Wally understood. The cane lit up with power and when he slammed it's base into the ground a golden shield erupted around them.

"Not bad for a former 'Dr. Fake' eh kid?" He said weakly. The old man stumbled and fell, Wally was able to catch him before he collided with the floor.

"Mr. Nelson, don't worry! I-I can help you!" Max kneeled next to him and pressed against his body to feel for abnormalities. But the truth was he didn't know what he was looking for. Would magical attacks cause physical wounds, or something more complicated?

He was really only trying to spare himself guilt, _"What do I do?!" _

"_**You know what you must do boy." **_Max shuttered as a foreign voice reverberated through his mind. This wasn't Megan's or anyone he knew, and it was unlike Megan's Martian telepathy. _**"I can sense it in you. Your desire for knowledge and your hunger for power." **_The voice was deep, gravely, cold even. But he could practically feel the power coming from it.

"_What- Who are you?!"_

Max fell back away from Kent as he fell limp, the sounds of Wally performing CPR and Klarion mystic blasts fading as he lost focus.

"_**I am what stands between this word and chaos. I am the order in your corrupted society. I am the power you crave. I am Fate!" **_

Max's eyes widened and his eyes locked onto the glowing gold helmet. Creepily, it's hollow eyes were locked with his own. _"You're Dr. Fate!"_

"_**Indeed. Put the helmet on child, you won't survive without it. I can sense it, unlike that other child over there, there is nothing special about you." **_Max grit his teeth at that, _**"Aside from the remarkable brain power you possess, you are useless on your own. I can change that."**_

Max thought back to the sequence of events that happened at the tower and Wally's words prior to their departure to locate Kent.

'If something ended up happening and we had to fight, you wouldn't be able to protect yourself. You'd just end up in the way.' End quote.

Max slowly stood to his feet and bit his lip, a twisted feeling filled his stomach as his hands gripped onto the gold helmet. Was it fear? Excitement? Or something else…

"I WANT THAT HELMET, AND I WANT IT NOW!"

"_Wally, we're in trouble! Tell Kent we need Dr. Fate!" _Max heard Megan shout at Wally through the telepathic link. Her cry of pain gave him the last resolve he needed. Without any second more of hesitation, he let the helmet cover his brown hair and then fair skin.

"Max, don't touch that!"

Golden light bathed the roof, and Klarion roared in protest. The Witchboy gathered a staggering amount of mystical energy into his hands and launched it at the the siblings. The blast exploded in an array of bright reds, leaving only smoke in its wake.

"You can not hurt Fate with such attacks…" A voice both Max's and yet not spoke through the clouds. From the obscured view, Max emerged. In a from that clearly wasn't his.

Blue robes adorned with ornate golden metal pieces and cloak, but most importantly, the golden helmet of fate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

From Max's point of view, he saw a boundless silence. There was nothing for as long as the eye could see. "Where- Where am I?" He took a few steps before he stopped, what if he got lost in here.

"Relax kid- You? I expected the other one after the little spiel I gave him…"

Max's eyes grew wide as he saw Kent standing before him, "Mr. Nelson, you're alright!"

The old man shook his head, "Not alright, I'm on the borderline. It's where spirits go when they aren't quite dead yet."

"So you aren't-?"

"Not just yet, but as soon as this little brouha is over, my spirit will ascend and I'll be reunited with my beloved Inza!"

"Wait- if your here and I'm here- does that mean that I'm-?!"

Kent laughed loudly, "Like I said, relax! You're alive kid. But your soul no longer controls your body. We are _inside _the helmet. You put it on and it would seem my soul as left it's imprint in here, probably because I spent so many years as it's Master!"

"It's Master? You means Fates?"

"Yes, Nabu, the real Doctor Fate. He's the guy controlling your body right now."

"Nabu… So that's his name. He spoke to me earlier, told me that I knew what I had to do…"

"He spoke to you?!" Kent was shocked. Nabu was strong. Very strong. And though he may need a vessel to utilize his power most effectively, he didn't need one to make minor influences. _"Was he really that desperate for a host? Perhaps it may not be my time to pass on yet..." _Kent thought in worry.

Nabu was a lord of order. He was power of absolute might, and as such, he wouldn't be above manipulation to get what he wanted. So long as he thought it was for the best, Nabu would play just as dirty as the bad guys.

"Y-Yes. He told me he could 'sense' me." Max left out the part about his desire for power and knowledge. He didn't want Kent to think any less of him.

"I see… Well there isn't much we can do for now. How about we watch the man in action? I'm sure it could prove fruitful."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside Klarion rained down red energy blast after red chaotic energy blast, "Give it up Nabu! Order went out of style in the 20th century!"

Fate stood calmly a golden ankh projected in front of both him and Wally as a shield, "This battle has no point Klarion. You sought to take the helmet before it gained a host, but you are too late!"

Klarion growled and after a couple of complicated hand gestures large pillars of stone rose from the ground, slamming into him.

The pillars exploded and Fate came out with not even a scratch. The lord of order recited a short spell, firing a golden beam of energy at Klarion. The blast was held back for just enough time for the Witchboy to dodge away relatively unscathed.

"_This body… It's weak." _Fate thought, _"It can hardly contain my power without destroying itself. I didn't expect to be so incompatible with the host. Though the brain power does allow me to use spells at minimal cost." _

As it was, Dr. Fate was far from even being at half his power. Max's body was weak both physically and mystically. He'd lured the boy to put the helmet on out of desperation, it didn't occur to him that the body would be so out of line with his spirit. The pro of fast spell casting with minimum energy usage was far outweighed by the fact that he'd destroy the vessel with his raw magical power.

Lost in his musing for a moment, Fate took a blast of energy directly to the back. It knocked him to the floor, where he scrambled to regain his footing. He rolled dodging another attack by a hair, only to come face to face with another. Luckily the blue and gold themed mage was able to throw up a shield, but it was just a diversion.

To busy caught with blocking the previous attack, Fate fell victim to a blindside. The sorcerer tumbled and slid on his knees, reacting within tenth of seconds to throw up a haphazard shield of mystical energy.

"_This body is too weak! I need to use more power!" _He shouted frustratedly. Though the host body may not be able to hold as much magic as he wanted, there were ways to increase it, though not without harm. Fate, however, couldn't care less.

His (Max's) limbs began burned, his forearms erupting in pain, and it wasn't due to muscle strain. Mystical energy was toxic to those who were incompatible, and having such potent power coursing throughout the body was indeed harmful. But that wasn't the worst part. The most damaging was Fate sacrificing pieces of Max's nerve endings to access more power.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside the helmet, Max winced in pain and kneeled. "W-What gives?"

Kent kneeled next to the boy, "It's still your body. You will feel what he does."

Suddenly though his arms exploded in pain, "Argh! What the hell is going on?!" Max felt like his arms were being stabbed with a thousand needles, he shook in agony as it only grew worse.

Kent grabbed his arms, wincing at the shout he got in response. _"He's cannibalizing his nerves, to make artificial magic pathways! Does this boys body disagree with magic so much?" _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside, Fate seemed to have made the right choice and, almost instantly, overpowered Klarion. He pushed forward and fired point blank, sending his adversary smashing into stone.

Klarion got up with a smirk, "You're out of practice Nabu. And the host body, zero affinity for the mystic arts." Klarion then summoned what looked like a bolt of lightening straight from the sky. Fate was only just barely able to block it, sparks of rainbow flying from his efforts. "Ooh, rainbow magic."

Wally all the while clutched to Kent's shallowly breathing body. Both in shock at his absolute helplessness and in confusion. Was this actually his brother? He was suddenly jolted though and noticed Klarion saying something to his cat.

"That's right!" He yelled to himself. "The cat! Get the cat, it's his only way of staying in this dimension!" He shouted to Max- Fate, Whatever he was.

The mystic man's eyes widened and a smirk fell through under his golden helmet. He exploded in power, nullifying Klarion attack. "I see you still use petty animals as your anchor. Allow me to show you your mistakes."

"You're babbling Nabu!"

"Am I?" Nabu raised his hands and shot a golden beam, Klarion was quick to react and rose a shield of earth. The attack sailed by harmlessly, "You missed-!" Klarion stopped mid taunt when his form flickered in and out, "-You! You wouldn't!"

"I would and I will. Without your familiar, you have no anchor in this reality."

Klarion grit his teeth and shouted a multitude of obscenities at the lord of order, "We're outta here!" His flashed to his cat and disappeared in a haze of black and red energy.

Fate was victorious.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"W-We won!" Max exclaimed. His arms still tingly, hung at his side. The boy waited for a moment, and yet nothing happened, "Why isn't he taking off the helmet…?" He asked

"Because the earth _needs _Dr. Fate. I will not release this body." Nabu's voice boomed through the vast empty space.

"You-You can't do that!"

"I can child. It was your greed that led you to accepting the helmet. You have what you wanted, there is nothing for you to complain about."

Kent decided to step in at this point, "Nabu! This is not the right candidate. I know you know this. This kid's soul is so utterly unfit for magic, it can hardly stand up to your mystical presence. It wouldn't last you even a decade."

"True, but there are ways around his lack of affinity. And, I do not appreciate being permanently hidden away. Useless and isolated, for decades at a time… Chaos must not be allowed to reign!"

"That won't happen again! We'll take the helmet and make sure you're put to good use! I'm sure this old man could be of some use to this band of youngsters!"

"W-Wait! Mr. Nelson, what about your wife?"

"Don't sweat it kid, I'll see Inza eventually. That's the best thing about eternity, it's eternal."

"You take me for a fool Kent Nelson! Your soul rests on the borderline, you can not don the helmet!"

Kent smirked, he'd gladly pass on but with Fates desperation he didn't think it was safe to let it be. He'd have to help search for a true successor, a truly worthy candidate to satisfy Nabu. "Technology is a wonderful thing Nabu. Kid, you've got something out there don't you? I'm sure the justice league has some kind of gizmo that can help me out."

Max opened and closed his mouth, but thought on it. He did have the prototype he built for the isolation chamber. Only catch was, it gave off harmful radiation if you were exposed for too long. Not unlike x rays. It's why he took the time to redesign and begin to put a new version together. "Well… I do have something, but there's no guarantee it'll work. I mean, it may even harm you-"

"Can it be done?" Nabu asked forcefully

"Y-Yes?"

"The bargain is acceptable. Do not try to fool me Kent, your word is binding."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max and Wally sprinted as soon as they materialized in the cave, the rest of the team close behind them. The got to his lab in record time and dashed around the clutter he had.

"**Mr. West, welcome bac-"**

"Aiva, prep the prototype IC!" Max dropped the arm he supporting Kent's limp body with. His own arms stung in pain due to whatever Nabu did to them while he had control of his body.

"**Sir, the prototype proved incredibly inefficient. The radiation from the reactor-"**

"It's an emergency!" Max popped the hatch to an egg shaped pod and motioned Wally forward. Lights lit up on the side and Max helped Wally lay Kent inside the pod.

"We'll be talking about what happened on the roof Max. As soon as everything settles down, we _will_ have a talk." Wally said forcefully.

Max bit his lip but didn't respond. Why did it sound like he was in trouble? He saved Wally! He saved everyone! Well, Nabu did, but he did it using his body!

The young genius put an oxygen mask on Kent and sealed the hatch. Upon locking, it began to fill up with a thick green liquid, all the way until he was completely submerged.

"**Subject has several internal injuries." **Aiva informed, **"Radiation levels are manageable. Beginning healing process now. Expected recovery time: 2 hours." **Max let out a sigh of relief, he kept up his end of the bargain. Kent Nelson would survive this night.

"Will he be alright?" Megan asked worriedly.

Max nodded, "He should be. The liquid inside is meant kickstart his regeneration process and force it into overdrive. It'll penetrate his every pore, and make him as good as new. Or as good as a 106 year old man can be."

"Good. Let's go Max, we need to have that talk." Wally said

Max looked down and away, but his expression wasn't shy, scared, or ashamed. It was bitter.

"Why don't you back off for a while Wally? We've all had a rougher night than we expected. And as far as I'm concerned, he did a heck of a lot better out there than you did."

"That's not even what this is about Artemis-! Ugh! Fine, we'll discuss it later!" With that, Wally took the Helmet of Fate and stormed out of Max's lab. Most of the team followed, albeit less angrily and more exhausted.

Kaldur gave the boy a nod of respect, the leader thought Max did well given the situation. Nobody really knew what happened on the roof, but then again no one questioned it either.

"Why do you do that?" Artemis suddenly asked, once the two were alone.

"D-Do what?"

"You let Wally walk all over you! He may be your brother, but you should stand up for yourself!"

Max chuckled and shrugged. It had always been that way, well as of late, Wally had been decidedly more on his ass. Ever since that mission where they fought Cheshire, his older brother had been a lot more frank and up front with him. He was quicker to put him down, faster to disagree. But even though it was more frequent than before, it's just how things always were.

Max idolized Wally. He was everything that Max wanted to be, and then some. It was unnatural for him to truly clash with Wally.

"I don't let him-..."

"You do. Look, I know you look up to him, for whatever reason… But, you have your own special things too. Look at all this stuff in here! Wally couldn't dream of putting together half this stuff! All I'm saying is, stand up for yourself. You deserve some kind of respect from him."

Max blushed at her words and looked away, "W-Well, if you think s-so."

"Of course I do! Now let's get out of here, I'm starved!"

Max smiled and followed after Artemis, she really was making a spot for herself on this team.

**Done**

**So, how do y'all feel about Kent being kept alive? Initially I wanted him to really kind of be a mentor to Max, but as I've began to write the next chapter and think about future ones it may work out better for him to be left to his own ideologies. Realistically speaking, there's no need for a singular mentor, given he's got a whole team and 3+ superhero's watching over the squad. **

**I also don't want it to feel like there's no stakes in these missions. If we know everyone is ganna be ok at the end of the day, then it kills the intensity right? I want there to be real consequences, but at the same time I didn't want my mans to die. **

**So I'm kind of lost on where that leaves good old Kent. I have a small idea to use it as a means to stir up some drama in the distant future, but that shouldn't be for awhile. In the meantime maybe I can use him as a mentor for Zatanna when that time comes along. I mean once she joins the team who else is ganna teach her about magic? And who better than the sorcerer supreme. **

**How'd you guys feel about me using the iso chamber? I got that particular idea from DBZ, kind of just ripped it off to be honest lol. **

**Other than all that, we should really start to see Max start coming into his own person pretty soon. He's beginning to know what he wants and is ganna pursue them. Despite what his brother might say. I'm hoping the drama didn't sound too forced for you all, last thing I want is for it to seem super fake. **

**Lastly, next chapter we should be getting into suit development territory and some other interesting stuff that will connect it all together. So hopefully it doesn't sound overly complicated or like I'm trying too hard to make it sound sophisticated. The goal here is to make it intriguing to read, and I think the best way to do that is make it as believable as possible. So look forward to that!**

**That's about it for my notes! As always, don't be afraid to let me know what you're thinking as well. Sometimes it's nice to hear someone else's ideas, especially since it'll be from a fresh perspective. The saying "looking too close" comes to mind when I think about this stuff. You guys may see stuff that I don't, simply because I'm too focused on one aspect. So I like to hear other people's thoughts. **

**Fav, follow, review, same stuff as always. **

**Peace!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright y'all, a fat month and no update. WHACK! I know so. No real excuse other than I wasn't satisfied with the original chapter, so this is like the 3rd rewrite I did. Still not fully satisfied, but I think it's better than the previous versions. **

**Also, at the end, there's a little bit of an explanation for the way somethings are going for those of you that are curious. If not don't even mind the A/n at the bottom!**

**So here you go, the 6th chapter may begin! **

Key:

"Regular speaking"

_"Thinking"_ \- Will also double as telepathic convos

**"Comms or automated speech"**

**CHAPTER 6**

The night sat drearily upon him. The resident boy genius couped in his lab as the team was out on a mission. At the moment he was undergoing a series of self administered tests. He still hadn't recovered from whatever Dr. Fate had done to his body while he'd been under his control. His arms had never returned to normal.

There were numerous numb spots, places he couldn't feel a single thing. Other times he felt agonizing pain in the form of sharp stinging sensations, but those came and went. Physically, he'd learned that some of his nerves had been completely destroyed. Like they'd been attacked from the inside and a simply burned up.

Kent, who had taken up quarters at the cave from time to time, came clean with the young man. Luckily he'd survived their little run in with Klarion, Max's isolation chamber working wonders on the man's aged body. But that was beside the point.

Nelson had taken the opportunity to tell the young man exactly what Nabu had done.

Creating artificial pathways for magic he otherwise couldn't have held through the cannibalization of his nerves, Max had learned. But to what extent?

The explanation only brought more questions. If that was true, did he still have those artificial pathways? And if he did, was there still magic in them?

Kent had let him know that surely that wouldn't be the case. The magic that was in him was not his own and came from an outside source. Once Nabu left his body, his mystic energy followed.

Words did not satisfy Max though. While he did trust Kent Nelson, he simply desired the proof that only his own eyes and intellect could provide. Perhaps it was the scientist within him, perhaps it was the lust for power that Nabu used to manipulate him…

The tests revealed nothing even remotely mystical about his average human body. It was disappointing to say the least…

Though not entirely unfounded.

Having scanned and examined the helmet of fate thoroughly, he did find traces of foreign energy. Mystic energy. Through several runs of trial and error (hundreds and hundreds) he'd found a way to both measure and trace said energy.

The latent power that the helmet held was insurmountable. It baffled the young West. As it stood, Fate could power a small town for maybe a year on energy with no known pollutants. It could be revolutionary in the race for clean energy.

When he'd reported his findings to Batman and the League, the Dark Knight had almost immediately given the objective of programming the Watchtower with the means to detect magic energy.

Zatara, the league's leading expert in all things mystic, was in shock at the discovery. He knew that magic was an energy, those so inclined could sense it, pinpoint it even. But to think that someone would find a way to measure it, trace it even (through technology), was awe inspiring. Let alone a mere boy.

The wizard didn't truly realize the genius behind this young man until that moment. He was even more shocked meeting Kent Nelson, earth's sorcerer supreme!

"Damn it! Still nothing!" He slammed his fist down on the metal desk he had. A dull tingling sensation rising from the point of impact, he could hardly feel it. Max lifted his hand up to face level. He twitched his fingers, flexing and clenching them. Something was clearly off, they moved slowly like they were strained and didn't have their full range of motion.

He clicked his tongue and sighed in defeat. He'd kept this little consequence silent from the rest of the team and the league, especially from Wally. Following the mission to retrieve Kent, Max's relationship with his brother had taken a rocky road.

The elder West was vehemently against his adamance in tagging along in missions. Sighting that he would only hurt himself, or worse, get someone else hurt. He even went to the team, presenting a rather solid case, he'd admit. Max had no prior training like they all had. He had no special attributes, like they all had. He just wasn't as _special _as they were.

Well, Wally didn't say those exact words, but he may as well have. Kid Flash had managed to sway the team over to his side, quite handily. Even Artemis, who had thus far been on his side didn't refute the logic. It was unanimous that, unless absolutely necessary, Max had nothing to do with team missions. At least not in a direct way.

During that time, Max had grown a small bit of resistance in him. He'd argued and fought back, shared counter points to his brothers arguments that would ultimately fail. But the point was he didn't sit there and take it.

The young man had taken Artemis' advice to heart. He loved his brother with all his heart, but who was he to tell him he was essentially unworthy, not ready, or not special enough. He brought his own cards to the table and they were _valuable_. One way or another, he contributed and Wally would have to accept that.

As such, it was understandable that they were on edge around each other. Max could tell that Artemis had some kind of guilt weighing on her. It was obvious by her clear attempts at damage control and always trying to play mediator when both siblings were in the room.

Max was confused at why she may feel guilty for anything. His actions were entirely his own. Sure her words woke him up a bit, but he wouldn't have said something he didn't mean.

"Perhaps some sort of prosthetic is the way to go, maybe I could give stem-cells a shot before that though… I'm sure we could whip something up." He spoke to himself. The reason he chose to keep his plight to himself was because he didn't want to give Wally any extra ammo. It seemed petty and unnecessary.

It was. It was just Max being a stubborn kid.

"**Of course Mr. West, should I contact The Batman? He's got plenty of experience regarding physical damage. It's almost guaranteed that he has something we can work off of."**

"No, don't call any one. I wanna get this done myself."

"**Hmm, are you sure? It would prove efficient-"**

"No. Calls." He said tiredly, "It shouldn't be too much of a workload. There's plenty of research to draw from anyway."

"**... As you wish."**

"Thank you, Aiva."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max worked diligently on placing the finishing touches on his isolation chamber. Finally, it was done. It was not only safer to use than his prototype, but cheaper to make. He'd gone ahead and used aluminum for most of the body instead of solid steel. Though this machine couldn't fight disease, it was decades (centuries dare he say?) ahead of any medical technology they had now.

He considered briefly about going public with it. Who knew the kind of lives he could save or could help with this? He immediately thought again though. Last thing he wanted was for his designs to be stolen by someone like Lex Luthor and use it for more nefarious purposes.

Now that he was thinking of people that could possibly replicate the device, Max couldn't help but wonder what kind of tech Atlantis had. They'd made it clear that they were quite technologically advanced. But how advanced were they truly? We're his discoveries secondhand, his inventions primitive compared to their own? Perhaps he could ask Kaldur for his opinion, the team's leader having recently taken a trip to his own world would have a proper insight into how advanced his home made technology was. At least, compared to Atlantis that is.

Max tightened a last bolt and smiled to himself. **"Congratulations Mr. West." **

"Thank you Aiva! I couldn't have done this without you! But now that this is done, I have something a bit more personal I wanna work on."

"**The secret armor, codenamed Metal?"**

Max sighed at the AI's cluelessness, "Not very secret when you announce it like that, but yes."

"**Apologies. Is there still not the problem of a sufficient power source?"**

"That's correct. Why do you think I've been looking back on our scans of the helmet of fate? I've proven that mystic energy can be quantified and even traced. But I've yet to find a way to store it. If I can somehow find the proper housing and transfer that power to my blueprint, I can provide the power needed for initial activation and even continued use."

"**Would it not be easier to finish the project with the nanites we've made? Each individual nanomachine runs on its own power, thus eliminating the need for the power source. Not to mention, the versatility nanobots offer is vastly superior to any singular form design."**

"A valid point. However, there are still vital flaws in a design made up purely of nanites. Both structurally and mechanically. Not to mention the mental toll it'd take on me to control that much at once. I still need to figure out a way to use them that doesn't split my focus between the situation at hand and keeping form." By this point Max had gotten over to his computer and pulled up a few hidden files.

The first was eye catching. It was a highly detailed blueprint for a mechanical suit of armor. It wasn't bulky, far from it in fact. It was small, streamlined, and nimble looking. It was colored a deep dark red and looked to cover everything up to the neck. **(A/N: imagine the anti-ock suit from Spider-Man PS4. Except obviously no spider symbol, and it's in red.)**

With a couple of button presses, Max turned around and walked to a table that had a life sized holographic projection of his suit. The design was basically complete, all of the simulations he put it through came out perfectly. No problems other than minor movement hindrances, which was to be expected. No matter how sleek and thin he made it, there was bound to be limitations.

Idly, if only just for the sake of daydreaming he decided to make a helmet. It looked plain by default, smooth facial features that only contoured with his facial structure. On the back is where all the mechanics went into play. Plates that slide and locked closed once fastened upon the wearer, and reversed when they wished to take it off.

It was quick to put together holographically and Max imagined it'd be just as easy to make. He couldn't help but feel something was missing though, it just looked so… Bland.

In an act of pure fantasy, Max constructed golden protrusions on the side of the head. Not unlike the extra pieces Flash had on his mask, or even Wally. He smiled to himself as the gold and red projection loaded completely. He turned the hologram in his palms and looked into the socket where the head would go.

Realistically, projections were just that. Projections. They were not matter and thus held no weight. Yet, Max could feel this helmet as if it were the very clothing he wore. His hands shook momentarily and he lifted the helmet up to his head.

He didn't hesitate in placing it down, it felt _so _real! He could hear the locking mechanisms, he could feel the coolness of metal. And then, like a burning candle, it vanished.

"Max! I'm glad I found you here, I think I need some help!"

That's right. He'd programmed Aiva with an emergency fail safe to close out all files related to his secret project the moment someone entered.

Max opened his eyes, "Barry-?" He questioned before correcting himself, "I mean Flash! What's up?"

The now revealed Flash looked a bit put off by the boys lack of enthusiasm. Typically whenever they saw each other, the small genius couldn't help but be overloaded with questions about his powers. About his villains powers and tech. Even, with inventions he thought may help him in the future.

So this was very different than the Max he was accustomed to seeing. Although, it was also true he'd never seen Max when he was working on something. "It's fine, we're in a safe house right now! Call me whatever you want. I was hoping you could take a look at something for me?"

Max perked up a bit, Flash wanted _his _help? Not Batman's, not Superman's, and not Wally's. _HIS! _"U-Um Yea! I can, what is it?"

Flash smiled, that was a bit more normal. "Well ya see," he pulled out a small vial of red fluid. "I've had a recent increase in speed based villains, luckily I was able to stop a rebellion before anything got too out of hand. Weird thing is they showed no prior latent abilities."

Max rose an eyebrow as Flash handed him the vial. "Well that doesn't really mean anything… You and Wally weren't born with your powers either it was a freak accident."

Flash nodded in confirmation, "That's right, but that's exactly why it's weird. These people had no freak accidents. Nothing abnormal at all. Even stranger, it's only temporary. After a couple hours in containment the suspects showed no signs of any kind of superpower."

"Ok, strange... And you think the reason for this sudden increase in speedsters is this thing here?" He shook the vial to see how the fluid would react, it seemed unstable. It bubbled and he could feel the vial itself heat up.

"I don't think, I know. Every one I've caught had a small stash of this stuff, they called it Velocity-9. Luckily I've found the source and destroyed every known concoction, putting the distributor behind bars. He unfortunately refused to give up his chemist though."

Max stared at the fluid in wonder, a drug that could grant the user temporary super speed? This was everything he'd dreamed of since he and Wally knew their uncle was _The Flash_. This-This little vial of big red could give him the superpowers he dreamed of…

Flash could see the awe on Max's face and momentarily regretted coming here. It was too late for that now though. "It's proven to be highly addictive… Its- Its caused a lot of problems for those who abused it. I brought it here cause I want to know it's contents and how it's giving people powers. If we can isolate the ingredients, we can find a chemist. And if we know exactly what's causing the superpowers, we may be able to counter a future emergence. I need _your _help Max."

Any fascination he had with the vial was lost at Barry's words. Warmth filled his chest in a way he hadn't felt in a long time. Barry needed him, _needed_.

What a great feeling. "I'll do my best!"

"That's all I can ask, Max." With that Flash left, he still had a city to look protect after all.

The teen grabbed a small eye dropper and took the smallest drop of the serum before placing the vial in a small chamber next to his computer. "Aiva analyze contents while I test the reactive nature."

"**Of course Mr. West."**

Let the work begin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Many, many, many Hours had passed since Barry dropped the substance he called 'Velocity-9'. He'd learned quite a bit about the drug since then, but he'd also found something that was completely mind boggling. Or to he more precise, Aiva found something completely mind boggling.

She scanned and analyzed the components of the serum. At first nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. Sure the ingredients were a bit unorthodox, but nonetheless still not hard to obtain if one had the right connections.

What was truly puzzling is this unknown component that had been found when scanning on random spectrums. Max had deduced this unknown was the reason it was also so unstable, so reactive. And most importantly, what gave the users super speed.

He couldn't explain it yet, but he knew it fit together some way and if he could deconstruct and figure out the exact order everything was put together, he was positive that it'd become clear.

He scribbled the equations and theories on his whiteboard, and then on the back of it. Once he'd ran out of room, he'd gone to the next, until finally he ran out of room and fell onto writing frantically in his notebook.

He muttered like a mad man, and clicked his tongue when he came to the same result he'd had few times before. A dead end, but there were still plenty of other paths he could try.

Max flipped the page and began again, repeating the process over and over again.

"**Perhaps a break would be beneficial, Mr. West. We are still only at the beginning of our research and there is no time limit."**

Max paused his pencil, "I guess it can't hurt, but I really want to figure this out… I'll take my notebook with me and go get something to eat. Maybe Megan made something!"

Max walked down the familiar halls of the cave, he was still buried in his notebook even as he maintained his leisurely pace. He glanced up for a moment when he found that no one was there, not a soul in sight.

"_Must be on a mission. They didn't even tell me…" _Max frowned, he understood their reasoning for not wanting him to tag along on missions. Even agreed depending on the parameters. But the want to even keep him out of the loop made him feel unwanted and troublesome. How could he fulfill his purpose as support when the team refused fill him in on even minor details?

He did his best to shrug off the disappointment he held within him. There was something else that needed his attention.

Max dug through the freezer for a microwaveable dinner. Finding something satisfactory he made the necessary prep and stuck it in the microwave for some odd minutes. Amidst the droning of the tool, Max reopened his notebook and begun to scratch pencil lead into it once more.

"Max, I didn't realize you were still awake!"

The boy jumped, why did people always come up behind him?! "Black Canary, I didn't hear you come in."

"I've been here since about 4, right before the team deployed. Red had watch duty, so it's up to me to watch the playground." She pulled up a chair as the microwaved beeped insistently, telling all it finished its job.

Max got up and pulled the plastic tray from the hatch and sat back down at the table, "Care for some? The meatloaf is actually really good, don't care for the potatoes though…"

Canary wrinkled her nose in disgust, just thinking about all the preservatives and chemicals in that small dinner made her nauseous. Of course she'd indulged in her share of processed meats, but she firmly believed in limiting such unhealthy habits. "I'm alright, my body is my temple. The amount of chemicals in there might give me another super power. It's too late to be eating anyway."

Max rolled his eyes, "Another super power wouldn't be such a bad thing would it? And what do you mean late, it's dinner time isn't it?"

Canary snorted, "If dinner time is at-" she flipped her wrist and checked the time on her watch, "3 Am then sure. Well, I guess it's dinner time somewhere right?"

The brown haired boy nearly choked on his food, "It's 3?! Wow, time really flies when you're working." He put down his pencil, maybe he should commit to a proper break instead. He'd been on this nonstop since before Canary got to the cave if her time table was accurate. That would be about 12 full hours…

"If I've got you here, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Max rose his eyebrow, "Do you want a set of flash armor too? I've actually got the specs already drawn up, you walk around _waaay _too exposed for the kind of fighting you do. I'm amazed you don't end up with more injuries. Stockings and a leotard can only provide so much protection. I mean you totally pull it off, like _really _pull it off. I can't think of another heroine who coul- actually by comparison- I guess yours is rather conservative. Wonder Woman doesn't even wear stockings, neither does Power Girl! But they're invulnerable, so it doesn't really matter if they have the extra protection. It's quite daring of them to go out with such a lack of modesty… anyway-!" The boy stopped his ramblings as he caught sight of Canary's bland expression that basically said, 'keep speaking and see what happens.'

"If you're about done now. No I don't need any 'flash armor'-"

"Are you sure, I've got a couple of things laying around that would be just perfect!" This was a nice conversation. It was light hearted, relaxing to have an interaction that wasn't based on his powerlessness. It let him finally feel like himself again.

"No Max, what I have to talk to you about is more serious." She took a moment to let him understand that she wasn't joking around, "I heard you had a confrontation with the team, I was just wondering how you were feeling about it."

And there goes that relaxing conversation, "Well, i think I'm ganna go finish up this work. Thanks for keeping me company, it was nice while it lasted." Max stood to trash the rest of his uneaten food, his appetite spoiled.

"Sit." Canary commanded, Max didn't have the courage to refuse. Rather, he had the common sense to listen. "You've been missing out on team training, I recall telling you that those lessons were mandatory. Is this argument the reason?"

The brown haired boy sighed, "No, it isn't the reason. I've just been preoccupied with other things. I do get my trainings in though, just not with everyone."

"I've seen your sparring footage with Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin. You've made a bad habit of brawling when the circumstances turn against you."

"Only against Robin and Aqualad. I can't win an exchange with Superboy, he's too strong."

"And you can against Kaldur and Robin? They are both very skilled too."

"They're just _so _predictable. It's easy to draw them into a fight like that. It's the only time I can really get my hits in with them." Max may not have been so physically inclined in his 13 years of life, but his eyes were no doubt excellent and his brain processing power, superior. If you paired amazing eyesight with unparalleled analytical skills it wasn't hard to predict an opponent's next move.

Especially someone with Max's particular set of gifts, even more so now that he had experience against said opponents. "Predictable? Those two are hardly predictable."

"And yet I know their moves before they know them themselves. My eyes and brain have not fooled me yet."

"... Even so, I think it would be beneficial for you to show up to the team sessions. It's good to spend time with others. And actual technique will only improve you."

"Why are you actually asking these things? I bet you already know everything about the little meeting we all had. There's no way you don't, so why don't you just tell me the truth?" Leave it to the genius to see through her subtleties, though she wasn't trying all that hard to hide it.

It was Canary's turn to sigh this time, "No point in beating around the bush I guess, forgive me. We're worried about you… I just wanted to see how you felt about the whole situation."

Max scoffed, "We? Hah… I…" The boy paused, carefully picking his words, "I understand the teams and Wally's reasoning. Logically, it makes a lot of sense and I can't fault them for that." He frowned.

Canary smiled at the boy and leaned forward, "Max I didn't ask if you understood the situation, I asked how you felt about it."

The boy was silent for a moment, his frown deepening. His eyes bounced left and then down to his hands, "I-It sucks…" he said truthfully. "I only want to help, I want to be their ally. Not from back here, but out there. I know I'm a burden on the field, but I can help! In some way, I _know _I can help…!"

"Nobody thinks you're a burden here Max, we all appreciate the stuff you do around here. They were only worried about your safety."

"Hmph. My safety, or theirs?" He almost growled that. It hurt that they didn't trust him, "Artemis had told me that I should stick up for myself, pursue what I want to. She told me that I had something to offer too, and that made me happy. Hopeful even. But the second she had the choice, she agreed with the rest of them. This-This whole situation, it makes me question my role here. They didn't even tell me they were leaving on a mission today… I'm supposed to be their support aren't I? Then why do I feel like such an outsider…"

Canary's brow furrowed at the words, "Artemis _is _your friend, don't mistake that. It was her who came to me out of concern for you. And I don't think you're an outsider at all. You've got a home here Max, there's more to this team than just the hero work. You've helped out everyone in more ways than you know." The female hero admitted.

Max didn't look convinced, "And how's that?"

Canary saw he only took her words at face value, so she indulged the kids request at elaboration, "You made M'gann feel like she had a home here on earth, on a planet filled with strange places and people. You gave her the courage to be among you all. When you tease Superboy and help him with his bike, you ease him. I know he cherishes that time. You are the closest thing he has to family here. Artemis, you've made her feel welcome since her first day here. You were the single person that welcomed her with open arms and made her feel like she always had a spot here. You helped blend her seamlessly into the team. Robin needs the presence of someone near his age and relishes in the fact that someone can rival him intellectually. He thrives off the sense of challenge. Kaldur finds comfort in the fact that he can little brother you. And Wally, well you're his _brother. _You may not have a place on the field as an operative, but you certainly have a place in here as our friend. Sometimes, we need a friend more than we need a hero Max. God knows there aren't enough good ones."

Max was speechless. He didn't know if Canary was just spouting shit. He didn't know if she was trying to manipulate him with those words. And truthfully he didn't care. He felt so damn warm. His eyes watered a little bit and he inhaled sharply, "I just- I wanted to be useful."

Black Canary gave him a calming smile and stood up. She walked to the other side of the table and give the teen a hug, "Useful? You're irreplaceable, no one could take your spot here."

The two chatted for close to an hour and Max had finally retreated to his room after a long winded session with Canary. The blonde woman was great to talk to, she made it easy to open up and provided wise insight that he couldn't hope to possess in his inexperienced lifetime. Maybe she was a therapist in her real life?

She'd helped him come to terms with the team's general consensus, and accept it. Not just the fact that it had happened and he had to get over it. But truly understanding it and accepting it in his heart for what it was. Concerned friends worried about his safety.

And while initially he'd resented the fact that they'd all teamed up against him the way they had, Max became grateful that they cared enough to even gather the way they did. At first he questioned his bonds and friendships, but Canary has helped him realize that this was only possible _because _they were friends.

"_I guess I owe Wally an apology… I've been hard to deal with as of late."_

After he'd left Canary he was filled with new energy. Energy that he wanted to commit wholly to supporting this team in the way he was supposed to.

But that would have to wait until he could crack this velocity-9 puzzle. It was no doubt his most troublesome challenge to date. Not even hacking through the Justice Leagues security systems was this hard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max had lost all sense of time in his lab. He was stuck. But he could feel it, he was right on the _edge. _All he had to do was tough it out and he'd reach the conclusion he was looking for. He find the answer to the super empowered serum that Barry left him.

He'd erased all of the previous equations from his whiteboard, they'd all been wrong. He had to start directly from scratch once more. Again, he was quick to run out of space, so he went digging and found some old chalk boards in storage. He wheeled a few of them over to his lab, so that he could extend his work onto them.

While the sound of chalk scratching the the black board had annoyed him at first, Max had learned to tune it out. He'd nearly filled up and then erased the contents several times over the extended time period he worked on this. Aiva providing helpful tidbits of info as he worked.

He was so caught up in his work that he nearly didn't know someone entered his lab. Not until Aiva announced their presence.

"**Artemis, welcome back from your mission. I assume that it went well given your return." **The AI stated.

"As well as it could've gone I guess. Well, minus Psimon erasing everyone's memories…" She muttered that last part to herself and Max turned around to greet the archer themed hero, "I just wanted to stop by and- Oh my god!" The girl flinched back when she caught sight of the boy genius.

To say he looked a bit worn out would be an understatement. His eyes were horribly bloodshot, his hair was greasy and matted, and now that she had been in the room for a couple of minutes she realized that it didn't smell all that good either.

"Hey Artemis, welcome back!"

"You look terrible!"

Max sweat dropped, "Gee, thanks…"

"Sorry, but when's the last time you went to sleep?" She looked the boy up and down, he looked pretty ragged.

Max shrugged, "I took a nap before you guys went on your mission. If your back, I guess I can assume I pulled an all nighter, I haven't had to pull one of those in a while."

"Before we deployed? Max, we were gone for a couple of days!"

The boy genius' eyebrows jumped, "Aiva, what's the date?"

"**September 5th sir."**

He blinked owlishly and scratched his cheek, "Doesn't feel like it's been that long…"

Artemis would've been impressed if she didn't know how bad it was to go several nights without sleep. "What are you doing in here that's so important?" She asked incredulously.

The boy smiled and turned around, "I'm glad you asked!" Now that she wasn't looking at just him, Artemis could see the countless sequence of numbers that spanned across three white boards and then another three black boards. The writing began neat, but slowly got messier and messier as she went down each board.

Artemis couldn't make heads or tails of the clustering of numbers and variables before her, she couldn't without any form of context. And even if she had the context, the girl didn't know if she'd be able to follow the complex structure of equations before her.

"Right after you guys left, Flash came to me with a drug," he flashed the vial of red fluid to her, "Apparently it's been giving normal people the power to run fast, and I mean _super fast._ I've found a foreign energy in the mixture that I've concluded is the cause of the empowered side effect. Only problem is, I don't know what it is or what it's made of. I've been trying to decipher its chemical makeup for a while now, but I haven't had a breakthrough in a while…" He seemed downtrodden at that.

"That sounds like a variant of Kobra Venom Maybe... Imagine that though, a drug that can give people superpowers? I hope that that's the last of it…"

Max nodded, "Flash said he destroyed all the other cartridges… Anyway, you've probably come here because you needed something right?" It sounded kind of messed up, but the team didn't normally come down to the lab for social time, "What's up?"

Artemis looked a bit sheepish and nodded, "Well, my bow kinda got a bit damaged in Bialya… I was hoping you could take a look at it?"

She placed her bow on a nearby table and Max looked it over. It certainly looked a bit rough, but it wasn't anything he couldn't fix. "Sure thing! Shouldn't be too hard to fix up, and I can even show you those curving arrows for you too! Just let me do another scan on the V-9 real quick and I could start right away, your bow shouldn't take that much time."

Artemis looked pleased with his words and smiled in gratitude as Max walked away. She was a bit nervous coming down here at first, given that she'd never had anyone else handle her equipment before, but everyone vouched for Max and his technical skills.

Well, that wasn't the whole truth, she was also nervous because she didn't know if he'd reject her for the whole (anti-Max as she dramatically called) meeting they had.

She watched Max pull a tablet from his main desktop and walk around the vial he'd placed safely onto an observational clamp. He scanned every direction, hoping to get as much information out of the test as possible. Once done he peered at the tablet screen and perked up in interest.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Artemis felt awkward just standing around, and she didn't want to just leave her precious bow here alone.

Max looked up to her and then back to his tablet, and then finally back to her again.

"Actually, could you take your shirt off?"

Artemis blinked owlishly and picked up her bow, "I think I'm just ganna go ahead and fix this myself. Later Max." She turned and made to quickly leave the lab. _"Does he really think I'll let him peek at my boobs just cause he said he'd fix my bow?! UGH! Boys are so_ stupid_!"_ She thought in anger.

Max looked confused at her sudden shift, before he realized exactly what he said and how he said it. He blushed bright red and waved his hands, "Waitwaitwait! That's not what I meant! Well it is, but not like that!"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Yea, Whatever creeper."

"Seriously, hold on! I didn't ask because I wanna see your boobs- not that you don't have a nice boobs! As a matter of fact, think you've got great-!" He stopped himself as could see he was only digging himself down into a deeper hole. He figured that he should probably just properly explain himself, "The foreign energy signature that I found in the V-9, my scanners picked up faint traces of it on you!" He ran in front of the girl and held his hands out to stop her.

Artemis didn't look like she believed him, "Move."

"I'm serious, look!" He fumbled with the tablet in hand and flipped it around to show her. His scans of the serum had conveniently picked her up in the background, what was strange however is that she was alight with the same radiation of energy that the V-9 was. "See!"

Artemis stared at the screen in confusion, she certainly didn't take any drugs, she didn't need to. She beat superpowered ass as a regular human. No enhanced abilities that she didn't earn through hard work. So why was this energy on her person?

"Alright fine, I believe you. But did you really need my _shirt_?" She asked accusingly.

Max laughed awkwardly and averted his gaze, "Well I was ganna ask for your pants, but I thought that might be inappropriate…"

"Fair enough. I guess I can help you out, since you're helping me out. Do you have a spare shirt around here or something?" Max looked at her like she was crazy. This was a lab, not a Macy's. "Luckily I've got an undershirt on underneath this…"

"Thank you!" Max exclaimed excitedly and ran over to his computer. "Aiva, prepare for a thorough scan and deep analysis!"

"**Yes sir." **Aiva began to run the necessary software for the procedure, while Max gathered all the proper equipment. Once finished he turned back to Artemis and nearly fainted from embarrassment.

She wasn't wearing so much of an undershirt as she was a sports bra. It wasn't really all that revealing, but it accentuated her growing attributes more than enough. For Max, this was the closest he'd been to seeing a naked girl in the flesh.

"What are you embarrassed for? I'm the one that's losing a shirt." Artemis teased a little bit, if only to make herself feel more comfortable with the situation. It was times like this that reminded her that while she was part of a team of super teens, this particular teen in front of her was fairly normal all things considered.

"R-Right, sorry."

A few awkward minutes passed by while Max and Aiva observed the energy readings they got from the shirt and compared them to the reading from the V-9.

"It's noticeably weaker… Like it's second hand." He mumbled. His head felt like it was ganna explode from the dead end thoughts he had. He was beginning to get frustrated.

What could Artemis have been exposed to way out in Bialya? And if the sample of V-9 he had was the last of it, then that must mean that she was exposed to the energy by different means.

So, if he concluded that this unknown element was the cause of the speedster side effects, then that must mean she was moving with someone that had super speed.

-!

Max felt a giddy feeling rise in his chest before he turned to Artemis, "Did you partner up with Wally for this mission by chance?"

Artemis looked surprised and blushed at the sudden words, "W-What? That loud mouth? Nothing happened with that twerp!"

That was obviously a lie. She was too embarrassed to say so, but when she'd lost her memories of the last six months she'd briefly found herself attracted to Kid Mouth. Thus, when she regained all her memories of his annoying ways, she found herself with conflicting feelings.

"Umm… Ok?"

Artemis coughed into her hand and recomposed herself, "Well… there was one time he picked me up and we ran from some tanks. It was freaky to move at super speed, I could barely take anything in."

"That's it, Hahaha!" He ran over to his black board and flipped it to its empty backside. That was it! There was a connection between those who already had super speed powers and whatever this mysterious force was.

If that was the case then did that mean that Barry and Wally got their own speed from this energy? He'd been looking at the equation he kept finding all wrong!

"What, I guess you found something?" Artemis asked, slightly excited too. She'd never discovered something, and if the reaction Max had was anything to go by, he'd just struck gold, "Hey, you wanna fill me in? I don't have a clue what you're doing right now!"

Max turned back to her and grinned widely, "I've been looking at this equation wrong, I'm an idiot!" He spoke with excitement, before he wrote a single equation in the black board with white chalk.

3X2(9YZ)4A=?

Artemis looked confused, "Am I supposed to know what that is?"

Max shook his head, "_I _barely know what it is. I had been looking at this from a chemistry perspective, but that was utterly wrong! Thanks to you, I realized that!"

"Are you ganna tell me what it means now?" She was beginning to get impatient.

"If you look at this from a physics standpoint; where X=width, Y=height, Z=depth, and A=area. This is not the equation to a substance, but to a place!" He enlightened.

Artemis looked surprised, but still confused. "I don't really understand how that helps you here."

"This energy, I believe is what causes users of V-9 to achieve their super speed. If the energy is nearly identical to Wally's, and if I'm right Flash's, then this suggests that their powers are beyond individual capability. There's a source to their powers, not unlike the Green Lantern Corps!" The blonde heroine looked absolutely shocked at the revelation. "And if the chemist somehow got this energy into the V-9 drug, then that must mean that it can be contained or replicated through artificial or temporary means…" He could've just found the power source for his suit, "It's-!"

"-Fascinating…" Artemis finished as she strode towards the black board Max had finished writing on. He wrote everything he said onto said board for memories sake. Even writing a key for the equation he drew up. "You're amazing Max…"

The boy suddenly found butterflies in his stomach and turned to the girl in his lab, "N-No, I really couldn't have done it unless you showed up with this. I'd have been stuck for who knows how much longer. I probably wouldn't have been able to solve it."

"You think too little of yourself…" They lulled into a silence that grew slightly uncomfortable, "I actually wanted to apologize."

Max tilted his head. He was pretty sure he knew what she was ganna apologize for, and he'd already gotten over it. His talk with Canary assured that, but he decided to indulge the young woman, "Apologize? What for?"

"For the whole, no missions thing. I said all that stuff to you but turned around and agreed with the rest of the team on not including you. It's just that- Well, it's not really easy for me to make friends, real ones anyway… My dad made sure of that." She spoke about her father with resentment, "And you guys here, even Wally, are the first people I've really been able to bond with on a personal level. When I agreed to not allowing you on missions I meant it in a good way, we all did. But I know it wasn't the right way to go about that, so I'm sorry."

Max smiled at the apology, it was a bit long winded. But, nonetheless he appreciated it. "I've already gotten over that! You don't have to apologize! Actually, I was thinking I should be the one to say sorry for acting so childish afterwards."

"You-You're not mad?"

Max pursed his lips, "Weeell, I was at first. But after thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. I even agree with it, if I'm honest. I'm not scared of death, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to die. And if I go out on a mission as I am now, I will most likely die."

Artemis giggles, "You're a lot different than most boys."

"Most boys aren't genius'. But enough of that, how about we start on your bow? I can't really progress more on this V-9 until I talk with Flash about the other details, so I'm free to work on that for now." He offered.

Artemis would've accepted if she hadn't found something more important for the boy to do, "Actually, that can wait. Why don't you go have a shower first? You smell." She was brutally honest with the boy.

He looked surprised and lifted the collar of his shirt up to smell, "I don't smell anything…" he then lifted the shirt up so that his head fell into the circular hole, "Oh yea, now I smell it."

It was at that particular time that Miss. Martian decided to storm into his lab. "Max, I can wait anymore! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for how we treated you, and for how I said-!" The Martian blinked in surprise and then blushed madly at the scene before her.

Artemis who had her shirt off, and was only in her sports bra standing next to Max who had his head halfway disappeared into his shirt. Although he only went in to get a whiff of himself, to an outsider it looked as though he was in the middle of taking his clothes off.

"You- You two? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!"

Artemis blushed at the implications and waved her hands frantically, "NO! That is _NOT _what is happening here!" She shouted.

"I-It's ok, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to!" The green girl slowly backed out of the laboratory, her eyes darting anywhere but them and then scurrying away in a frenzied flight.

"Wait, M'gann she's telling the truth! It's not like that!" Max also tried to explain but was unable to catch up to speeding Martian. He stopped himself from chasing her as he held a hand to his head, "Oh man. I'm tired, and hungry… And I need a shower."

Artemis sighed as she placed her green arrow shirt back on, "Don't worry about that, I'll straighten things out with Megan. Go shower and sleep, we can work on my bow tomorrow, deal?"

"Deal."

**Done!**

**Shorter than I originally wanted but anything more would've been way too forced. I already felt like I had too much going on in here anyways, so I wanted to end it before it turned into a muddled mess. **

**In response to a few reviews, (which I'm always thankful for!) totally understand the concern on the character treatment. Notice though, that all of these words and actions are being written through Max's perspective. **

**And as readers I'm trying to have you view this from the MC'a general perspective, even though it's not direct. A person can only interpret an individual's actions. There's no true way to know someone's intentions, unless the explicitly spell it out. So what you read is Max's interpretation of the words or events that took place. **

**From his parents point of view, they love him just as much as Wally. It's just that as a superhero, they naturally have more to worry about with him, than the other one that is relatively safe at home or in a lab. From Wally's perspective, he wants to keep everyone safe, and no one **_**more **_**than his own little brother. His words sound harsh, but at the end of the day are rooted from a protective intention. **

**As for the magic stuff, I thought real hard about it. And I mean REAL hard. But I just don't understand DC magic enough to really take it anywhere. It's so vague to me. I thought that much was pretty obvious when I borrowed the concept of sacrificing nerves from the fate series. **

**The way I see it, there's a specific aptitude for magic and natural comparability that must be met to utilize it properly. Otherwise, there'd be sorcerers and wizards everywhere. A bit simplistic and convenient maybe, but fitting for me. As far as I know, all the magic users in the DC universe all come from magic wielding ancestry (Zatanna, Zatara, Atlanteans). They only one that doesn't, is John Constantine who is known to be particularly gifted in the art. **

**With all that in mind I formed my own set of guidelines and base preliminaries for magic in this universe. Doing it this way just helps me push the character in the direction I've been planning for.**

**I hope those explanations made sense and were satisfactory. I can see it all in my head and it sounds like it fits together like a fine puzzle up there, but it's hard for me to really give you the exact picture I have in my mind. I don't think any writer has been able to do that. It's both a pro and a con to reading I guess. You as the reader can form your own images and pictures, giving it a sense of satisfaction (for me at least). But at the same time, you'll never know how these sequences play out in my head. I think you guys really miss out on that due to my poor writing sometimes.**

**Unfortunate, but I can only try and get better!**

**Plan is to start the next chapter and have it out within the next week or two, so be on the lookout! If you've got more questions, don't be afraid to leave them in a review or a PM! Don't check my PMs very often though, for whatever reason I don't get any notifications for that. **

**Anyhow, thanks for dropping by and I can't wait till next time!**

**Peace!**


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